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Self-Driving Car Test: Steve Mahan

Google · 11.3M views · 2012-03-28 · 3:02

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Overview

Google's 2012 video of Steve Mahan, who is legally blind, taking a drive in its self-driving car including a drive-through stop. It was shared as a human-interest demonstration of the technology's promise.

On Hacker News

Cited as an early milestone of autonomous driving, and later as an example of over-optimistic timelines.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2012–2022

Topics

Self-driving & autonomous vehicles
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waymogoogleautonomous vehiclesaccessibility

What people said

londons_explore · 2022-03 · Criticism

This video is just over 10 years old today: [VIDEO] It shows a waymo/google driverless car driving a multi-mile route on public streets with no supervision. And today we're seeing... Pretty much the exact same thing!

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vel0city · 2021-02 · Criticism

Google showed a self-driving car taking a blind guy through a Taco Bell drive-through. Clearly ready for prime time, probably just a year off. [VIDEO] That video was released on March 28, 2012. Nine years ago in 48 days. You'd think if it was just a little regulatory red tape a multi-billion dollar corporation or two (or three) would have figured it out in nine years. Maybe its more than just a few rules changes that's keeping truly full self driving carson some very select routes.

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jonas21 · 2018-12 · Reference

They've been working with the guy in the video for over 6 years [1], and he's the former CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, which has aims for "a future where awareness, legislation and technology meet at a crossroads to provide individuals who are blind and visually impaired the same opportunities as their sighted peers" [2]. It sounds like they're taking this seriously. [1] [VIDEO] [2] [LINK]

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Sources

Video by Google, played through YouTube.

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