Google plots cop detection for auto autos

Google has decided it's a good thing if its autonomous vehicles know when there's an emergency services vehicle in the vicinity, and has scored a patent for doing so.

Since the Chocolate Factory's autonomous bubbles won't go particularly fast any time they're on a straight patch of road and can't see a cop, the idea is to help the cars get out of the way.

The patent, US 20160252905, was filed September 1.

It would seem sensible to Vulture South that in the future, police, ambulance, fire and rescue vehicles should have some kind of radio ID so any driverless autos in the vicinity know they're there – but in the meantime, Mountain View is focussing on spotting flashing lights.

Hence the patent imagines a system that identifies emergency services flashing lights using filters (to look for red or blue colours), and working out if the light is flashing or not, checking (presuming they're in line of sight) the configuration such as spacing of the lights to work out which emergency service is approaching.

If the car decides it needs to get out of the way, its computers will “yield in response” to the emergency services vehicle. ®