Google Drives Cars Automatically

Google announced they developed cars that drive themselves automatically in traffic, and that it has been testing them on the streets of California for months. Google car contain video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to see other traffic, as well as detailed maps  to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by google cars when mapping their terrain.

The vehicles have been tested on 140,000 miles of California road, from Silicon Valley to Santa Monica. Each car is manned during the tests. One person sits in the driver’s seat, ready to take control of the vehicle instantly by controlling the wheel or touch the brake should something go wrong with the system. The person in the passenger’s seat is an engineer who monitors the software operations on a computer.

This is what Google says about their automated car technology.

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. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.

source: The Official Google Blog