The world was told that the line of itty-bitty Google self-driving vehicles was poised to hit the roads in summer. Well, they’re here. A few prototype vehicles started cruising around Mountain View, Calif., and the folks at Google are eager to see how the public receives them.
Although the self-driving cars are out of the garage and onto the roadways, the “training wheels” are still on. The vehicles are still equipped with a steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal, and a qualified driver will be there to take over if things go awry. Their speed is capped at 25 miles per hour. And they pause 1.5 seconds after a stoplight turns green “because many accidents happen during this time.” Google will continue gathering data from their Mountain View prototypes to make the cars safer and more reliable. The Google car is equipped with the same software that’s loaded into Google’s self-driving Lexus SUVs.
Google’s self-driving vehicles have already learned a few lessons about the streets of California — they’ve been involved in more than 10 accidents. However, none of the incidents could be blamed on a glitch in the self-driving software. Human error was to blame — the very thing self-driving cars aim to cure. Although self-driving algorithms can detect obstacles and stay between the lines, they don’t necessarily have a “human” driving style. Robots, for example, don’t give a “you go first” nod to another driver that reached a four-way stop at the same time.
Google is encouraging drivers who encounter a self-driving prototype on the roads to share their experiences. In the longer term, the company is looking at bringing their test vehicles to other cities……
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Image Credit: Google Self-Driving Car Project