Google's new robot car: Crazy good or crazy crazy?

Google's new robot car: Crazy good or crazy crazy?

There is something charming about engineers who decide they will alter the world. Just because they can.

So Google's announcement that it has already been testing cars that drive themselves should be met by warm feelings in many of one's more imaginative nerve-endings.

As I grasp this vastly ambitious project, Google is intending that these cars, manned as they are by vast arrays of excellent soft- and hardware, will avoid crashes and allow for fuel savings and more cars on the road (as, deductive reasoning goes, there will be no crashes). They will also allow drivers to get drunk to skunk levels, given that no self-respecting Google car would actually let the drivers take the wheel, even when they're sober.

While several parts of me want to emit songs from the works of the finest gospel authors, there are other parts that yield a B-flat of discomfort.

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Google offers $10 million to 'sustainable transportation' firms

Google is earmarking more greenbacks to make cars greener.

The nonprofit arm of the Web search giant, Google.org, on Wednesday issued a $10 million request for proposal from companies involved in commercial plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and other forms of sustainable transportation.

The RFP process--to be done entirely online--is meant to accelerate development of cleaner forms of transportation at a large scale in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Google.org.

Google intends to invest between $500,000 and $2 million in companies that are approved and will not take up position on those firms' boards.

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page plug their wheels into the grid.

(Credit: Google)

t is looking for "for-profit companies whose innovative approach, team and technologies will enable widespread commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and/or vehicle-to-grid solutions," according to the RFP.

Submissions can be anything from battery technologies to services that encourage plug-in hybrids. The proposals will be reviewed by Google employees and experts in the field.

In June of this year, Google launched RechargeIT, a program to convert company cars to plug-in hybrids, which can be recharged and potentially feed power back into the electricity grid during times of high demand. The company has also installed a large 1.6-megawatt solar array and dedicated $1 million to nonprofit groups working to address global warming.

"While $10 million is a fraction of the total investment needed to transform our transportation sector, we hope this RFP will [...]

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Martin LaMonica. CRAVE