Self-Driving Car Only 5 Years Away – Lofty Goals Set by Google Humans

Google has a plan to eliminate human driving in 5 years, and they built this adorable little prototype to prove it. The self-driving car has no steering wheel or pedals, so it’s up to the computer to do all the driving.

It sounds scary, but Google has been testing this for the last few years around California and has logged more than a million miles on the demo fleet, with only 11 accidents - none of them serious, according to the Google humans.

However, there are always going to be problems to overcome. What if a cow falls from a human-driven truck in front of you? What if a pedestrian walks into a red flashing crosswalk? What if the chicken actually crosses the road?

Google says it's working on that.

California has recently enacted a law that says every vehicle on the road must have a human aboard. This tells us the technology of the self-driving car is close. Google plans to roll out it's first car in 2020.

Dear Google, If I am to purchase one of these vehicles, I want a steering wheel, a brake pedal, a back-up brake, six airbags, and full use of my middle finger. You know, because old habits die hard on the I-229 at 5 o'clock.

(Source: Wired.com)