While Google has indeed been developing ways to create vehicles that drive themselves, the company decided today to have a little April Fool"s Day fun while also educating people about their autonomous car efforts. Google launched a new website today to "announce" its plans to field a stock car on the NASCAR circuit that would be self driven.
Obviously, this is not really happening but both Google and NASCAR are going all out on this April Fool"s Day effort, complete with a video on NASCAR.com that shows other drivers talking about Google entering their racing league. Most of them, oddly enough, seem to welcome having a car drive itself on the track at 200 MPH so they can have a break from driving all those hours on the race course.
The website and video may be a funny piece of fiction but Google"s efforts to create a true autonomous car is very much of a reality at the company. While we won"t likely see robotic racing cars at Daytona Beach anytime soon, the idea of a car that can navigate and drive itself has a lot of practical applications, including eliminating most car wrecks and saving fuel if the technology is taken to its conclusion.
Image via Google