Analysis: Google Cars Gets Ready To Retail Rumble

Google’s autonomous car program tends to get the lion’s share of attention when discussing the tech giant’s auto initiatives. But lurking in the background is a more immediate project that has the potential to finally “disrupt” (as Silicon Valley types are so fond of saying) online automotive sales.

The last party to attempt such a feat was TrueCar, an innovative and well-intentioned company that ultimately ran afoul of dealers, regulators and the OEMs. TrueCar was forced …

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Google Maps Gone Wrong? Street View Car Found Wrecked in India

It's not every day that you stumble upon an abandoned Google StreetView Camera Car in the middle of nowhere. And since you are bound to ask, by 'nowhere' we mean down a rocky hill in the Leh district of northern India. An unidentified man who sounds like he has an American or a Canadian accent captured a film of the aftermath. The video shows the high standing camera-equipped Opel Astra hatchback (previous generation) facing down the hill with its front smashed up on the rocks. Read more »…

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Google In Talks With Automakers Over Implementing Self-Driving Technology

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How to Estimate Your Road Trip Duration with Google Maps

Planning out your motorcycle road trip with Google Maps is the quicker, cheaper alternative to using an actual GPS devise. While Google Maps can be a big help when it comes to planning your rout there are several things you can do to enhance the accuracy and usefulness of this tool, especially when calculating the duration. This can be especially helpful when you need to reach certain destinations within a certain time frame. Let’s take a look at what can be done to ensure that you can accurately plan the duration of your motorcycle trip using Google Maps.

The Default Calculation
When you type in a starting location and a destination Google Maps automatically gives you a calculated travel time. This calculation can be accurate or it can be incredibly inaccurate, depending on a huge variety of factors. The travel time is located via speed limit data gathered from public records and road signs provided by Google Maps data providers. This would be fine if you could guarantee that you would travel at each specific speed limit for each area. However, as well all know, this isn’t always possible.

Variable Travel Speed
While Google Maps provides a travel time based on speed limits it can’t cover other factors. Things such as traffic, school zones, accidents, bad weather and many other factors can slow your travel speed and contribute to inaccurate travel time estimation. Additionally, if you’re traveling faster than the speed limit in some areas that can also contribute towards an inaccurate estimation. This is especially true on interstates since people tend to travel faster than the speed limit there.

Improving Travel Time Accuracy
One way of improving the accuracy of the duration of your motorcycle road trip is to get regular updates on the travel time provided by Google Maps. This will required a couple of things to do though. First you must have a mobile device capable of accessing Google Maps so you can check it as you go. Second of all you will have to be within a city to get an updated estimate.

For example, let’s say you’re traveling from San Diego to Houston. You can start by getting the travel estimate at your starting location, then at each city you come to replace the starting location in Google Maps with the new city name and get a new estimate. While this isn’t quite as good a method as using an actual GPS to get real time trip duration estimates it is a good free alternative.

Google Maps Forums
There are forums for Google Maps where you can get additional data. You can post and ask if the travel estimate from your starting point to the destination is accurate and get feedback on what to expect. You can also see if there is anything in particular on your rout that may slow you down. Don’t forget to mention that you’re using a motorcycle, this could have a big impact on the advice you get.

You can also ask if anyone who’s driven a similar rout to yours has their own estimate as to about how long it takes. The more people you can get to talk to you about their experience the better since it will help to improve your own estimate.
Considering the Weather
Bad weather is a much bigger problem for those traveling by motorcycle than those who’re using a car or truck. Due to this fact it is very important that you check the weather in advance before you start out on your trip. If you’re traveling a particularly long distance you will probably want to get weather forecasts for each segment of your journey. You can use the Google Maps travel estimates as well as the estimates you get from the forums and other sources to get an idea of when you’ll be passing through each area of your journey.

While Google Maps is a handy tool for calculating road trip duration it isn’t 100% perfect. More than anything your own experiences and the experiences of others will be a better indicator of how long it will take to get from one place to another. Also, don’t forget to use Google Maps to update your estimate as you pass through each city if you don’t have a GPS. This will further refine the accuracy of your travel estimate as you go.
Sam is an avid Harley rider who loves nothing more than packing up his saddlebags and heading out onto the open road!

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F1: Glock admits need to ‘google’ 2012 teammate Pic

It is a sign of the times when an established Formula One driver admits he will need to ‘google’ his likely new teammate.
Timo Glock, Virgin RacingPhoto by: xpb.cc

Timo Glock joked to Auto Motor und Sport that, if the reports are true that Frenchman Charles Pic is set to replace Jerome d’Ambrosio at Virgin next year, he will have to unfold his laptop.

21-year-old Pic, fourth in GP2 this year, has been driving German Glock’s car in Abu Dhabi this week for the so-called young driver test.

"What doe…

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Google Plans To Build Their Own Driverless Car?

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Video: Google Finally Explains the Tech Behind Their Autonomous Cars

Google Autonomous Car Steve Jurvetson
Google’s self-driving fleet of robo-Priuses have been cruising around the San Francisco area for months now, logging over 190,000 miles. But until recently, the technology behind the autonomous cars had been kept secret. Last month, Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford professor and head of the project, and Google engineer Chris Urmson, delivered a keynote speech at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in San Francisco, explaining how the car w…

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So, Um, Why Does the New Google Phone Have a Barometer in It?

Google Galaxy Nexus GoogleA weatherman in your pocket this is not–but that’s not to say it isn’t very cool
Buried in the avalanche of features in the newest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, was the addition of a new sensor to accompany the standard GPS, proximity, and accelerometer: a barometer. It’s one we’d never have thought to add to a smartphone, and we sat for a little while, scratching our heads at the possible use for a sensor that tests atmospheric pressure. So we talked to the experts …

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Why Is Google Paying Websites To Rip Me Off?

Here’s a simple truth. Virtually everything that I write online about cars gets ripped off. Whether I publish it here, at Cars In Depth, over at The Truth About Cars, or Left Lane News, I can go to sleep at night safe in the knowledge that I’m getting ripped off by other websites, usually single [...]

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Preview Your Drive From the Air, With Google Helicopter View

Google Helo View An aerial view from Carmel to Big Sur. Google
Maps can only get you so far in life – sometimes you need to veer off the beaten path, take the scenic route, or figure out how to get there as the crow flies. Now Google will help you do that. Helicopter View: When Street View and River View just aren’t enough.
Google’s helicopter view provides a 3-D view of your journey, so you can envision all the hillsides and neighborhoods you would otherwise miss by driving on boring streets. And it’s a…

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