Wow, this really looks like it might be another "gmail" in that it's such a ridiculously awesome thing that releasing it on April 1st will keep everyone guessing if its actually real.
That was my thought exactly. Google's April Fools don't often have any link to reality (I still remember the moonplex, that was cool), so in this case because the self-driving car is already successful, it sounds stupid to have such a tiny step as a joke. Of course, the video someone else put in the comments does have some "foolsworthy" comments by drivers especially... We'll know for sure tomorrow!
Update Apr 1, 10:05 a.m.: As you probably guessed—no, Google Racing isn’t real. We were really happy to work with NASCAR on this April Fools' joke. The technological advancements this sport has made in the last decade are impressive and while we won’t be providing self-driving cars to compete in the races, we look forward to working together with NASCAR in the future on projects like their YouTube channel. What better way to drive change?
That scene in the video, of the driver looking very confused asking "So... you don't need me?". Got me thinking, that was probably the same scene when some record label executives heard about the internets for the first time.
I can't believe this. I hope it's real, because then it would be clear that Google is very close to being able to market their autonomous car technology. I imagine a move like putting their autonomous car in a NASCAR race is part of a larger plan to familiarize the masses with their technology and serve as great advertising. To get enough people comfortable with computers driving cars Google will need to fight a hard PR battle, even just to get sensible legislation passed.
I realize this is probably an April Fools' prank, but I'm guessing that a race around a fixed track would actually be a great way to test autonomous cars: you don't need to worry about pedestrians, bicyclists, stoplights, pets, traffic laws, etc; all you have to do is focus on driving and turning at high speeds, and on the other cars on the track.
I don't know. How often do you drive a car without having to worry about pedestrians, cyclists, stoplights or traffic laws? If I'm going to test an autonomous car, I'm going to do mimic real-world situations in my test environment.
The more I think about it, the less likely this is to be real. Normal day to day driving is actually incredibly easy. But racing requires intense and constant concentration and quick reactions.
I don't think it would. Because part of racing is gambling on the other driver to back off when fighting for position. And when I say "gambling", there are a lot of very human factors involved in trying to figure out an opponents likely behavior. It's not like chess.
Above all racing requires situational awareness, which computers are very bad at. For ordinary driving scenarios the bar on situational awareness is fairly low, but that bar goes way up in racing.
I'd actually love to see an iea like this come to fruition. It will probably be something more like an autonomous robot fight. But, it brings something tangible and a different dimension to competitions among coders
Likely an April fools, but actually seems like a good idea. The car could be lighter, wouldn't make as many mistakes, and could help get people comfortable with the idea of autonomous vehicles.
Surprise! As you might have guessed, Google Racing is an April Fools joke brought to you by Google and NASCAR. And while we won't be providing self-driving cars to compete in the races, we look forward to working with NASCAR on future projects.
There are at least 8 so far: Google Maps in 8-bit, Google Really Advanced Search, Chrome Multitask Mode, Google Racing, Gmail Tap, Google Weather Control, The YouTube Collection, and Google AdWords Click-to-Teleport Extensions.
the different google teams have always done their own jokes. it's still two hours to go before it's even the 1st in california, i'm sure there'll be more.
