Google unveils driverless car

Google has unveiled its first fully designed self-driving prototype, a two-seater vehicle that eliminates the steering wheel, accelerator, brake pedal, mirrors and glove compartment. The car is unable to travel faster than 25 mph, while software and sensors are designed to help the vehicle steer clear of accidents. Passengers simply input their destination and push a single button. "The project is about changing the world for people who are not well-served by transportation today," said Google co-founder
May 29, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
1691 Google has unveiled its first fully designed self-driving prototype, a two-seater vehicle that eliminates the steering wheel, accelerator, brake pedal, mirrors and glove compartment. The car is unable to travel faster than 25 mph, while software and sensors are designed to help the vehicle steer clear of accidents. Passengers simply input their destination and push a single button.

"The project is about changing the world for people who are not well-served by transportation today," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

If the car should malfunction, the car has two sets of steering and braking systems, so if one fails the other can take over.

The company plans to build about a hundred prototypes and Google’s safety drivers will start testing early versions with manual controls. If all goes well, Google plans to run a small pilot program in California in the next couple of years and if the technology develops, it will work with partners to bring the technology into the world.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Can AV mapping rely on crowds?
    June 29, 2021
    Mapping tech companies need to expand their data inputs beyond crowdsourcing in order to maintain temporally accurate maps at scale, says Ro Gupta at Carmera
    Read More
  • Scaling up road safety analysis with Aimsun cloud simulation
    May 10, 2023
    Synthetic generation, execution, and analysis of thousands of road safety scenarios is exponentially more efficient and wider ranging than any methodology based on field data. Marcel Sala & Jordi Casas of Aimsun examine the benefits of cloud simulation for safety testing
    Read More
  • AV ride-pooling in Hamburg by 2025
    September 17, 2021
    VW, Moia and Argo AI's plan is important piece of future mobility 'puzzle', says German city
    Read More
  • Jonathan Raper from TransportAPI is surfing the open data tidal wave
    August 13, 2015
    Jonathan Raper, managing director of the TransportAPI talks to Colin Sowman about the benefits open data can bring to the public transport sector. That the digital revolution would change the world, including transport, was never in doubt but the question has always been: how? Now, with the ‘Millennium Bug’ relegated to a question on quiz shows, the potential and challenges of digital technology are starting to take shape - and Jonathan Raper is in the vanguard. Raper is managing director of the open data t
    Read More

Highlighted Content