This spring, Google is introducing the self-driving bicycle
in Amsterdam, the world’s premier cycling city. The Dutch cycle more than any
other nation in the world, almost 900 kilometres per year per person, amounting
to over 15 billion kilometres annually. The self-driving bicycle enables safe
navigation through the city for Amsterdam residents, and furthers Google’s
ambition to improve urban mobility with technology. Google Netherlands takes
enormous pride in the fact that a Dutch team worked on this innovation that
will have great impact in their home country.
While many viewers encountered this video on the Google
Netherlands channel on April Fools’ Day (and thus understood that it was spoof
of the Google Self-Driving Car Project), this short film reached a wider
audience when it was posted (outside its original context) a few days later to
the Calimero Facebook page. The Calimero version of the video has been viewed
over 5 million times since then (nearly three million times more than the
original video on Google Netherlands), on a site that makes no mention of an
April Fools’ Day joke.
Although Google Netherlands likewise made no specific
reference to April Fools’ Day when they originally posted the video, they did
include a link to a “making of” video that showed the “self-driving” bicycle
concept to be a hoax:
Well 'Self-Driving Bicycle' is a great idea. Whoever created
this video has done a fantastic job in making us believe that its actually from
Google.
But take a look at this video to know the true story .
Trust me, you will laugh for what the video convinced you.
