US Internet titan Google said on October 10 it was testing robot cars that drive completely on their own, and already have cruised around California. "One of the big problems we're working on today is car safety and efficiency.
Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use," Sebastian Thrun, a Google engineer said on a company blog posting.
"So we have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard.
They've driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe," he added.
"All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles (225,302 km). We think this is a first in robotics research."
The engineer explained that in the experimental enterprise "automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to 'see' other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead."
But the vehicles are not unmanned for safety reasons; safety drivers are behind the wheel in case they are needed, Thrun's posting said.
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