Google awarded patent for driverless car technology

Google has been awarded a US patent for a “landing strip” which will be used to transition a mixed-mode vehicle from human to autonomous control. The Intellectual Property Rights explain how the car would know when and where to take control and where it is located and the direction it needs to drive in. Google describes several methods for the technology and says that a range of aspects can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. The enabler

March 27, 2012 Read time: 1 min

1691 Google has been awarded a US patent for a “landing strip” which will be used to transition a mixed-mode vehicle from human to autonomous control. The Intellectual Property Rights explain how the car would know when and where to take control and where it is located and the direction it needs to drive in. Google describes several methods for the technology and says that a range of aspects can be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. The enabler for the technology which may trigger actions is the landing strip which Google says could simply be a mark on the ground, a sign on a wall, or lines or arrows. To study the full patent document, %$Linker: External 0 0 0 oLinkExternal visit this link Full Patent Document false http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,078,349.PN.&OS=PN/8,078,349&RS=PN/8,078,349 false false%>.

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Europe calls for guidance on evaluating ITS projects

A European Commission study report has revealed a lack of consistency or standard practice for evaluating the funding needs and fiscal performance of ITS projects. New guidelines are urgently needed for monitoring public funding of ITS schemes, says a recent report from the European Commission (EC). A specially-commissioned study has found no readily available comparative analysis of transport funding schemes and ITS investment methodologies to support project decision making. A survey of nine EU member sta