Bits Blog: OpenTable Begins Testing Mobile Payments

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Self-Driving Cars for Testing Are Supported by U.S.

On Thursday, the Transportation Department made its first formal policy statement on autonomous vehicles. In a nonbinding recommendation to the states, it said that driverless cars should not yet be allowed, except for testing. But it said that semiautonomous features, like cars that keep themselves centered in lanes and adjust their speed based on the location of the car ahead, could save lives.

The statement, from the department’s highway safety agency, comes as companies, led by Google, have made significant technological strides in making cars that drive themselves, but still face daunting legal, regulatory and cultural hurdles before the cars are widely available to drivers. It is the latest example of the tension between technological innovation and regulation, which move at very different speeds.

It is also a time of rapid change, and some anxiety, about autonomous systems in general. The transportation department is struggling, for instance, to determine how to regulate drone aircraft.

The statement detailed the benefits of self-driving and semiautonomous cars, which analysts said was a recognition by government officials that it had no choice but to keep up with the advancing technology in this area, which falls on a continuum from cruise control to full automation.

“It’s not that they’re trying to put the brakes on it,” said Richard Wallace, director of transportation systems analysis at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “They’re trying to get out in front of it.”

Still, the highway safety agency was careful to address the tension between technology and regulation.

“Any potential regulatory action must appropriately balance the need to ensure motor vehicle safety with the flexibility to innovate,” it said.

Even though technology companies like Google generally fear that innovation far outpaces regulation and risks being stifled by it, it has a different approach with cars than with software or cellphones because cars have been heavily regulated for decades, said Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington who co-founded the Legal Aspects of Autonomous Driving center at Stanford.

“We want to have some experimentation in the states to see what works, but it’s nice to have federal experts helping out, as long as they don’t take it too far,” he said.

Autonomous cars could increase safety because they are not subject to human error like disobeying traffic laws and falling asleep at the wheel, according to analysts, car companies and the transportation department. They could also offer mobility to people who cannot drive, like the disabled or the aging.

Driverless cars could “change our lives, give us more green space, mobility, fewer hours wasted,” Larry Page, Google’s chief executive, said this month. “The average American spends 50 minutes commuting. Imagine if you got that back.”

Still, many Americans are dubious about automated driving, according to a poll by the Auto Alliance, a Washington trade group that represents 12 of the largest carmakers selling vehicles in the United States. For instance, 81 percent said they were concerned that computer hackers could take control of an automated vehicle.

Even if automated cars were safer, people would worry about the lack of human judgment, Mr. Calo said.

“The first time that a driverless vehicle swerves to avoid a shopping cart and hits a stroller, someone’s going to write, ‘robot car kills baby to save groceries,’ ” he said. “It’s those kinds of reasons you want to make sure this stuff is fully tested.”

Yet most people will have the option of buying a car that is part robot in some sense next time they visit a dealership. Vehicles ranging from German luxury cars to mass-market American sedans are now equipped with automated safety systems, which rely on computer processors, software and sensors.

Future models from Mercedes-Benz have radar systems that brake a car in the event of an impending collision, stay in its proper lane around curves and sense when a driver is fatigued. Ford Motor Company’s midsize Fusion sedan has a lane-assist system that alerts drivers when they stray on the roadway. Many cars come with adaptive cruise control that automatically cuts the speed when the distance between vehicles gets too close.

Claire Cain Miller reported from San Francisco and Matthew L. Wald from Washington. John M. Broder contributed reporting from Washington and Bill Vlasic from Detroit.

Bits Blog: Google Is Testing Same-Day Delivery for Shoppers

Google is now in the same-day delivery business. In San Francisco, some people affiliated with Google can buy a product, using their phones or computers, and have it delivered to their homes in a matter of hours.

Plans for the new service have been under way for more than a year. But it recently went live for some Google employees and their friends, according to two people briefed on the service who were not authorized to discuss it because Google has not yet publicly introduced it. At least one national apparel chain is involved, one of these people said. A Google spokesman, Nate Tyler, declined to comment.

Google is just one company tackling same-day delivery. So are Wal-Mart Stores, Amazon.com, eBay and the United States Postal Service.

Though the service propels Google into commerce, the company does not intend to operate warehouses or a shipping service but to team up with retailers and delivery companies. Several San Francisco retailers, including national chains, are participating in the program already.

For shoppers, the service means they can avoid the trouble of driving to the store and some of the wait for items ordered online.

Same-day delivery could help physical retailers, which have been under siege from e-commerce companies that offer the convenience of shopping without leaving home. But online retailers offering same-day delivery could make life even harder for physical retailers, because letting people own something the same day has become physical retailers’ biggest remaining advantage.

The reasons that Google is interested in same-day delivery are less obvious.

Retail ads are a huge portion of Google’s business, but they are under threat from companies like Amazon, where shoppers increasingly go to search for products, bypassing Google. Also responding to the threat from Amazon, Google recently tried to improve its comparison shopping service by charging retailers to list their products there. It says retailers are more likely to list accurate and up-to-date items if they are paying.

Additionally, Google has been trying to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds to better understand and profit from mobile ads. On computers, Google and advertisers know if a user clicks on an ad and visits or buys on another Web site. But they lose track of customers who look up a business or product on their phone and then put their phone away, walk into the store and buy something. Online ordering and delivery could help solve that problem.