All over the world, countless incidents of car-related accidents have been recorded. In America alone, 33,000 people die from auto accidents each year. Though many precautionary measures and traffic rules have been implemented, still this number continues to increase.
And in hope to trim this down by as much as 90 percent, Google has created something that can sense and react to things faster than humans – the Google’s new “self-driving” car.
Today, Google announced its own design for self-driving cars which will drive people around without a steering wheel or pedals.
The two-seater prototype relies on built-in sensors and a software system to safely maneuver around obstacles.
“The project is about changing the world for people who are not well-served by transportation today,” Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, said at the inaugural Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
According to Brin, this latest project was made using off the shelf car parts.
That includes heavy use of foam and an electric motor.
And a few people were given a chance to ride this prototype car for the first time.
Thida says, “It was like really kind of a space age experience.”
“It knows when it needs to stop, and it knows when it needs to go,” says Annie while Judy says, “It actually rides better than my own car.”
Walt relates the car does what Linda always tries to get him to do and that is “it slowed down before it went around the curve and then accelerated in the curve”.
And if Janet had a self-driving car, she could spend more time hanging out with Ethan and her kids without having to wait ’til they get home.
Nick is “totally in love with this whole concept”.
While Steve who says that “there’s big part of my life that’s missing” and believes that “there’s a big part of my life that self-driving vehicle would bring to me”.
As for when the cars might actually be running in highways, Brin said Google will soon test them with drivers. “Within a couple of years – well, if we’ve passed the safety metrics we’ve put in place, which is to be significantly safer than a human driver – have them on the road,” he said.
Watch the video of Google’s self-driving car below:
Share this to others and watch out for this car. Who knows, you might see it parked in your garage soon!