Google's Driverless Car

An experiment by Google scientists saw driverless cars released on to the roads of California. It is estimated that the cars could see the 1.2 million lives lost in road accidents slashed to around half that amount. Environmentalists say the cars could cut carbon emissions.

The seven cars drove on the roads of LA and San Francisco using video cameras parking sensors, sat nav and a laser range finder to avoid other vehicles. The vehicles have so far notched up 140,000 miles. Sebastian Thrun, Google software engineer, stated that self-driving cars would see a noticeable reduction in accidents and energy consumption. It is estimated that people spend an average of 52 minutes a day driving to work, driverless cars could see road users use their time more productively.

US Military tests and a number of other global projects are being conducted into automated vehicles. The change to V8 engines was encouraged by a recruitment campaign to pick competitors from DARPA Grand and Urban Challenge which were run by the US Military forces to encourage the development of self-driving vehicles.

There are undoubtedly still a number of technical issues which will be needed to be ironed out. Many critics have questioned the potential hazards which could occur with a malfunction. Google are keeping a number of technical details under wraps. According to the engineers, the only issue with the car security was when it came to a halt at traffic lights and was hit from behind by another vehicle,

Thrun has reassured that the automated car experiments in California were never a danger to the general public: "Our cars were never unmanned. We always have a trained safety driver behind the wheel who can take over as easily as one disengages cruise control. And we also have a trained software operator in the passenger seat.