Google’s self driving cars can now honk!

​New York: Software giant Google, in its Self-Driving Car Project's latest monthly report, has said that it has been experimenting with horn algorithms in the vehicle. The company is experimenting with the algorithm by playing the horn inside the car to make sure the honking does not confuse other drivers.

"It is also an important step in developing the capabilities of autonomous cars, and highlights the fact that teaching robots to drive among humans is not about merely learning a set of rules-or even the edge cases when it's okay to bend or ignore those rules. It is a highly cultural, intuitive process," a report in MIT technology review said.

Google said its cars are meant to be "polite, considerate, and only honk when it makes driving safer for everyone". From there, the cars learned when and where it was correct to use a honk, and whether shorter or longer noises might be needed. So if it spots another vehicle driving the wrong way down a one way street, it will probably signal a long and sustained noise.

"Our goal is to teach our cars to honk like a patient, seasoned driver. As we become more experienced honkers, we hope our cars will also be able to predict how other drivers respond to a beep in different situations," says the report.

Source: Agencies