[datasink]

I've seen the Google self-driving car navigating within morning traffic in San Jose. There were two men with laptops in the driver and passenger seats, presumably monitoring the car and available to step in if something went wrong. It was also kind of surprising to see the roof-mounted device it used to map its surrounding. It was fairly large and rapidly rotating.

[michaelt]

Did it look like this: http://velodynelidar.com/lidar/hdlproducts/hdl64e.aspx

Very impressive spec - as you'd expect for a $75,000 product.

[toomuchtodo]

The device on top is a laser scanner creating a cloud point map for spatial awareness.