When Google introduced its driverless car a few years back, everyone thought that it was a truly revolutionary transportation technology, and rightly so. When they finally hit the road in about 10-15 years, self-driving cars will fundamentally change transportation, improving traffic safety and hopefully reducing congestion. But, even though Google is already well ahead of its competitors in the race to bring driverless cars to the market, the tech company doesn’t intend to slow down development of autonomous driving technology. Google thought that equipping cars built by other companies, such as Prius and Lexus models, with its technology, wasn’t enough, so they decided to build one on their own.
The search giant unveiled a driverless car prototype, which according to the company itself, takes autonomous driving technology a couple of steps further. While existing self-driving cars retrofitted with Google’s technology can drive independently, they are not completely autonomous, as there is always a person sitting behind the wheel, ready to take control of the car and turn the wheel, or brake, if necessary.
Now, with this new self-driving car, the need for a human to take over has been eliminated, as it is equipped with sensors and sophisticated computer software, that takes care of steering, acceleration, and braking. That’s why there is no steering wheel, no brake pedal, and no gas pedal, which makes the car truly independent. The only thing that a person needs to do is press the start button to get moving, and the stop button at the end of the trip, while the rest of the work is taken care of by the software. The car can also be summoned through a smartphone application.
Google hasn’t put too much effort into the car’s exterior design, developing a small, compact vehicle that looks a lot like a Volkswagen Beetle. The inside of the car is not too extravagant, either, with two seats with seat belts, and space behind the seats where passengers can put their belongings. There is also a large display that shows you the route. Instead of wasting time on designing and manufacturing comfort or convenience features, the company has focused on improving its self-driving technology. The new driverless car they have developed is able to detect hundreds of objects and obstacles, such as pedestrians, buses, cyclists, and recognize hand gestures made by cyclists or police officers. In order to make sure that the car doesn’t jeopardize pedestrian safety, Google has limited its top speed at 25 mph. The car is powered by electricity, and will be able to travel 100 miles before it needs to be recharged.
The company plans to build 100 such cars, and start testing them on the streets of Mountain View, California, later this summer. If tests go well, and if Google manages to prove that the technology is completely safe, it will increase the cars’ maximum speed significantly. However, the software company has no intention of establishing a car manufacturing division, with plans to focus on providing technological and engineering solutions, partnering up with manufacturing companies to build the car.