Quiz Of The Week: Google Cars And Other Tech Transport

Google’s self-driving car hit the news again, when the company revealed to reporters that it will be programmed to break the speed limit by up to 10mph (16 km/hour). Google says it’s just safer to do this sometimes – and we figured this gave us a good excuse to dust off our Tech Transport quiz.

The self-driving cars, which are being tested on the roads of the US, could be allowed on British thoroughfares from 2015, and there is a parallel British initiative to make cars that don’t need driving. But there’s no word on whether our domestic product will take a cavalier attitude to speeding. It’s also not clear if cops will allow “I wasn’t driving” as an excuse if your Google car goes faster than 30 miles per hour in a residential area.

Google speed bump?

In May, Google was showing off electric driverless cars only capable of 25mph, which would prevent them breaking the most common speed limits. But Google is also actively testing its tech on regular cars such as the Lexus RX450h and the Toyota Prius, which have been converted to driverless use with equipment on the roof, making an autonomous speeding ticket a real possibility.

When technology takes over transport, we can expect this sort of issue to surface regularly, and our transport quiz aims to test your knowledge of an area which is (ahem) moving pretty fast at the moment.

Tech is also altering the way we travel on public transport, with contactless payments enabled in London recently – and buses no longer accepting coins.  That raises questions about privacy and surveillance, among others.

Our quiz looks at earlier tech transport trials, and on into the Space Age. Are you ready?

Try the quiz!

And if you like it, try some of our others….