In Europe, Google's driver-less car concept may have a harder time becoming a reality. Driving conditions are quite different and the habits of drivers are a lot different. Countries, like Great Britain, for instance, have completely different driving rules. While countries, like Turkey, have many drivers who do not abide by many rules and standards.
This can produce a very hectic environment for vehicles designed to abide by traffic rules and standards that are normal in California where Google is headquartered, but not so in other parts of the world.
Google has to work all this out and design the car with varied road conditions in mind if it wants to expand beyond California.
"Americans have gun massacres, we have road rage," The Register's Andrew Orlowski says. "And do you think Google's Wonkamobiles will reduce or increase that road rage? One thing's for sure - it's going to be fun being a trucker again, giving these little Noddy Cars a 'friendly bump'."
Orlowski also points out there is a trust issue involved with Google releasing such cars onto the market. Google's previous statements and privacy issues with data collection are examples of why trust in Google has been eroding.
Another issue is that cities will likely become more dense with vehicles and transportation infrastructure may have a hard time keeping up with increasing numbers of cars.
"Road capacity could be boosted by 4 times using robotic cars. This could be another 30% boost to productivity," says Brian Wang from Next Big Future.
Obviously, this can also be seen as a positive. Having more comfortable road conditions and increasing infrastructure (more jobs) accommodating more people can benefit local governments and Google. However, there are other issues that could cause Google some concern.
There is the issue of traffic tickets and law enforcement policing these vehicles. Due to their safety and non-erratic driving nature, Google Cars have not gotten a traffic ticket anywhere for that matter. This could cripple local revenues stemming from driving violations. One thing it does save local government is collision costs as a result of reckless drivers.
As readers may recall, Google recently started producing prototypes of these vehicles to test out on the roads with the eventual goal of producing commercial vehicles. All of these issues probably still haven't been addressed or resolved by Google, but they are worth consideration. Whether Google wants to dominate the world's car industry or just focus on a small geographical area remains to be seen though.
One thing is for sure, Google has its work cut out and will need a lot more field testers and vehicles to test out before everyone stops driving.
