- Marguerite Young
Utopia. Other than being a random city in the middle of Texas, utopia is a word that encompasses the unreachable -- a perfect world. It can be argued that design is continually trying to help society attain this status of perfection. Even if it proves an impossible quest, some designs, such as Google's recently unleashed smartcars, are trying their best to improve society little by little. Their purpose? To help reduce the number of traffic accidents and fatalities that, unfortunately, occur by the minute, as well as reduce harmful carbon emissions and free up peoples' time.
Using the most advanced robotics technology, Google's smart cars have been able to navigate over 140,000 miles on the road without human aid, and most importantly, without accident. With a toolbox of lasers, video cameras, radars, and a plethora of other sensors, the cars are able to connect to Google's vast database of terrain (the same data used in Google Earth or Google Maps when you look up travel directions) and navigate roads, all while heeding traffic signals, stop signs, speed limits, and more. Because a well-designed sensor is objective and can make accurate decisions much more quickly than a human who may mistakenly jam on the gas pedal rather than the brakes, the potential of this technology to reduce accidents is quite high. Also on the list of highly preventable accidents would be the carelessness of drivers who may miss pedestrians, talk on the phone, try to text and don't pay attention to the road, or are even drunk.
By having sensor systems within the cars that can measure the carbon footprint of each trip, these smartcars are capable of taking the most "eco-friendly" route from point A to point B. With the millions of cars that travel the roads each day, this could significantly reduce the impact of exhaust's contributions to larger world-wide issues, such as global warming.
We may not have the means of creating a true utopia yet, and we may never acquire them.. but you can bet we'll try our hardest. As designers of the future, that's our goal.
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More information can be found at the official Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-were-driving-at.html.
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