Google’s self-driving cars hit the road
A few of Google’s cartoon-like self-driving cars are now sharing the road with regular vehicles around the company’s Mountain View, California headquarters. This marks the first time that the pod-like, two seat vehicles have been allowed on public roads since Google unveiled the next generation of its self-driving fleet more than a year ago. The prototype cars will be capped at a speed of 25 mph, making them more at home in a neighborhood for now rather than a highway. A human will also ride in the cars to take control in emergencies, just as has been the case with the self-driving Lexus vehicles during the past six years.
We want to understand what it really means to have self-driving vehicles in the world – both how people in the community perceive and interact with them.
The cars use a suite of sensors and GPS, letting them figure out a route to a preprogrammed destination, then follow lanes and traffic guidance to arrive safely. If all goes well, Google hopes to gain regulatory clearance to remove the steering wheel, brake pedal and emergency driver from the prototype. Company executives have expressed hope that self-driving cars using its technology will be joining the flow of daily traffic by the end of this decade. Automakers, such as Nissan and Ford, have predicted that autonomous cars will become available to the public by 2020.
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