Google Racing

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.

The video ( <a href="http://www.nascar.com/video/none/none/120331/cup-mar-google/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nascar.com/video/none/none/120331/cup-mar-google/</a> ) the site links to on NASCAR.com is pretty well done. I mention it because I almost missed it.

The blog post ( <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.fr/2012/03/bringing-self-driving-cars-to-nascar.html" rel="nofollow">http://googleblog.blogspot.fr/2012/03/bringing-self-driving-...</a> ) was updated:<p><i>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?</i>

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.

Although this happens to be for April Fool's, the funny thing is Stanford already did this with their Pikes Peak Audi TTS race car <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/february1/shelley-pikes-peak-020310.html" rel="nofollow">http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/february1/shelley-pikes-p...</a>

I'm kind of hoping this is real, I'd love to see a robot racer take on the humans at least once.

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

Who wants to bet that this one isn't a joke?

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.

I would totally pay to watch this.<p>Edit: I would totally pay to see autonomous robots race on a track without the limitations of human drivers.<p>I've actually driven on a track (once) and it's surprisingly different/difficult.

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.

Larry and Sergey mentioned it on gplus. <a href="https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/posts" rel="nofollow">https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/posts</a>

Interesting idea to use an April fools joke to raise awareness about probably one of the lesser known projects.

So now there are 3 April Fool's jokes? This, Chrome multitasking and 8-bit game cartridge Google Maps?

And I thought that the chrome multitasking was too much effort.

I lol'ed at the Android Paint Scheme...

Can we use this to bring ultimate defeat and ruin to Danica Patrick + GoDaddy?

I'm not sure this is another April Fool's Joke. I didn't find anywhere where it said "April Fools" but maybe I'm wrong.