General Motors: Self-Driving Robotic Cars

Somethin’ tells me you aren’t goin’ ta like dis. Yer right. I want to drive on my own. No “bots” please! — LD

NEW YORK -- You get in your car, turn on the navigation system and then type in the address to your destination. Instead of you driving your car there, the car drives itself. Engineers and students from the nation's top universities alike are competing to develop exactly that -- a self-driving car.

(See video from General Motors (NYSE: GM) at:
http://www.mediaseed.tv/Story.aspx?story=34073)

The competition is sponsored by the Department of Defense. They are eager to apply the technology on the battlefield to keep soldiers out of harm's way and to help save lives. There are also many civilian uses for the technology. Self-driving cars will be programmed not to crash into each other, to reduce traffic congestion and to also reduce stops and starts -- saving on energy and reducing emissions.

Automotive safety technologies like cruise control, lane departure warning and blind zone alerts already exist. It won't be long until cars will start to drive themselves.

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SOURCE: Medialink and General Motors