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Driven : the race to create the autonomous car / Alex Davies.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2021Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: 291 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781501199431
  • 1501199439
  • 9781501199455
  • 1501199455
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prologue: Waymo v. Uber -- The Grandma test -- The geeks and the govvies -- Orphans preferred -- Convulsions and smoke -- Vision quest -- The great imposters -- The continuous representation of reality -- The un-car people -- Winner take all -- A long, slow donkey ride through hell -- A death in the desert -- Epilogue: The starting line.
Summary: "The origin story of the revolutionary driverless car, from concept to its present status, told through the stories of the key innovators by the Wired reporter who has covered this story for the past five years"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: Davies tells the fascinating story of the futurists who are determined to put self-driving cars on the road. His account begins with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA), the people who invented the internet. The agency launched a series of robot races attracted visionaries who took self-driving technology to near reality. Eventually Detroit automakers realized that they had to pursue this technology or risk becoming obsolete. The competition remains intense-- and their quest will change our lives. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 629.222 D255 Available 33111010464358
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Alex Davies tells the "illuminating and important narrative" (Steven Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story ) of the quest to develop driverless cars--and the fierce competition between Google, Uber, and other companies in a race to revolutionize our lives.

The self-driving car has been one of the most vaunted technological breakthroughs of recent years. But early promises that these autonomous vehicles would soon be on the roads have proven premature. Alex Davies follows the twists and turns of the story from its origins to today.

The story starts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was charged with developing a land-based equivalent to the drone, a vehicle that could operate in war zones without risking human lives. DARPA issued a series of three "Grand Challenges" that attracted visionaries, many of them students and amateurs, who took the technology from Jetsons -style fantasy to near-reality. The young stars of the Challenges soon connected with Silicon Valley giants Google and Uber, intent on delivering a new way of driving to the civilian world.

Soon the automakers joined the quest, some on their own, others in partnership with the tech titans. But as road testing progressed, it became clear that the challenges of driving a car without human assistance were more formidable than anticipated.

Davies profiles the industry's key players from the early enthusiasm of the DARPA days to their growing awareness that while this spin on artificial intelligence isn't yet ready for rush-hour traffic, driverless cars are poised to remake how the world moves. Driven explores "the epic tale of competition and comradery, long odds and underdogs, all in service of a world-changing moonshot" (Andy Greenberg, author of Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar ).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue: Waymo v. Uber -- The Grandma test -- The geeks and the govvies -- Orphans preferred -- Convulsions and smoke -- Vision quest -- The great imposters -- The continuous representation of reality -- The un-car people -- Winner take all -- A long, slow donkey ride through hell -- A death in the desert -- Epilogue: The starting line.

"The origin story of the revolutionary driverless car, from concept to its present status, told through the stories of the key innovators by the Wired reporter who has covered this story for the past five years"-- Provided by publisher.

Davies tells the fascinating story of the futurists who are determined to put self-driving cars on the road. His account begins with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA), the people who invented the internet. The agency launched a series of robot races attracted visionaries who took self-driving technology to near reality. Eventually Detroit automakers realized that they had to pursue this technology or risk becoming obsolete. The competition remains intense-- and their quest will change our lives. -- adapted from jacket

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