An automated system that completely replaces a human driver has been produced by web giant Google, the company announced this weekend. The system has been tested on over 140,000 miles of California roadway, and Google says the results have been impressive.
"Our 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. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain," said Sebastian Thrun, a software engineer at Google, in a post on the company's official blog.
The testing cars, Google said, always had a trained safety driver behind the wheel in case the system broke down, ready to assume control "as easily as one disengages cruise control." Additionally, the company said, all routes were pre-mapped by drivers in normal cars and road conditions were carefully monitored. "By mapping features like lane markers and traffic signs, the software in the car becomes familiar with the environment and its characteristics in advance," Thrun said.
Social media blog Mashable reports that the self-driving cars have been involved in just one accident during the testing phase, a rear-end collision that was found to be the fault of the other driver. The company says that the system should promote road safety, free up commute time for the pursuit of other activities, and – presumably – drive down car insurance costs by reducing the huge number of accidents that happen every year as a result of human error.