First of
100 test vehicles is unveiled with no steering wheel or pedals, two seats and a
top speed of 25mph
theguardian.com,
Guardian staff, Wednesday 28 May 2014
Google has demonstrated its own driverless car, a design that does away with all conventional controls including the steering wheel, and says it will build 100 of the vehicles for testing with the eventual aim of "bringing this technology to the world safely".
Google's prototype driverless car has been unveiled at the company's California headquarters. Photograph: /Google |
Google has demonstrated its own driverless car, a design that does away with all conventional controls including the steering wheel, and says it will build 100 of the vehicles for testing with the eventual aim of "bringing this technology to the world safely".
The company
had for several years been testing everyday cars equipped with sensors,
navigation equipment and computers to drive themselves but in the meantime it
has secretly developed a prototype from scratch that will have no facility for
a human to take control, other than an emergency stop button.
An initial
100 testbed versions would retain manual controls, Google said as it unveiled
the car on Tuesday. The controls are needed to comply with the law in
California which along with Nevada and Florida allows autonomous vehicles but
only if a driver can take charge.
Chris
Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car project, said the aim was to run
extended tests in California where Google is based. Urmson argued driverless
cars would improve road safety, calling the development "an important step
toward improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of
people".
Google said
its testing had suggested it was safer to remove conventional controls
altogether because the results of a human having to take over safely and suddenly
were unpredictable and potentially dangerous. “We saw stuff that made us a
little nervous,” Urmson told the New York Times.
The
toy-like concept vehicle has two seats, a screen displaying the route and a top
speed of 25mph (40km/h). An array of sensors allows the vehicle's computer to
determine its location and surroundings and it can "see" several
hundred metres, according to Google.
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