Google assures to manufacture awe-inspiring self-driving cars

Google has unveiled its latest initiative to manufacture self-driving cars. Co-founder Sergey Brin revealed the plans at a conference in California. The exclusive car will feature a stop-go button for its operation without the existence of controls, steering wheel or pedals. It will seat two people, propulsion will be electric, and at the start it will be limited to 25mph (40km/h) to help ensure safety.

The cars will have sensors that remove blind spots, and they can detect objects out to a distance of more than two football fields in all directions, which is especially helpful on busy streets with lots of intersections. The front end of the vehicle is designed to be safer for pedestrians, with a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be, and a more flexible windscreen, which may help reduce injuries. The vehicle will use a combination of laser and radar sensors along with camera data to drive autonomously. It will depend on Google’s road maps, built specifically for the programme, and tested on the company’s current fleet of vehicles.

“We’re really excited about this vehicle – it’s something that will allow us to really push the capabilities of self driving technology, and understand the limitations,” said Chris Urmson, director of the company’s self-driving project. He added that the cars had the ability to “improve people’s lives by transforming mobility”.

Google recently announced that its self driving cars had covered 700,000 miles of public roads in autonomous mode, and that they were now tackling the tricky problem of busy city streets. The company plans to build a fleet of around 200 of the cars in Detroit, with the hope of using them as an autonomous technology test bed.