Look! No hands

Google unveils driverless car prototype

GOOGLE HA S designed a self-driving car and plans to build up to 100 prototypes to begin testing this summer.

The Californian technology company has been testing self-driving vehicles for some time but this announcement is significant as it confirms that Google will build its own cars as opposed to fitting technology to existing models.

In previous trials, computers and sensors were used in existing car models. However, Google has now unveiled its own vehicle prototype.

Chris Urmson is director of the selfdriving car project.

He said: “We’re now exploring what fully self-driving vehicles would look like by building some prototypes. They will be designed to operate safely and autonomously without requiring human intervention.

“They won’t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal... because they don’t need them. Our software and sensors do all the work.

“The vehicles will be very basic — we want to learn from them and adapt them as quickly as possible — but they will take you where you want to go at the push of a button.

“A nd that’s an important step towards improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of people.”

A recent update on Google’s official blog announced that more than 700,000 miles had been driven in initial testing using vehicles from other manufacturers such as Toyota, with the cars now on the streets of California.

It is one of a series of notable projects the company has in development, including installing wi-fi in weather balloons to provide internet access to all parts of the world and a build-it-yourself smartphone known as Project A ra.

Google has said the car prototypes will be basic to begin with, “designed for learning, not luxury”, containing just two seats, storage space and stop and go buttons.

It also confirmed the cars would be limited to 25mph and would feature a screen to display the route you travel.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said: “The project is about changing the world for people who are not well served by transportation today. The main reason we wanted to develop this prototype vehicle is that we can do a better job than we can do with an existing vehicle.”

However, Mr Brin was keen to point out that while Google believes it can innovate in the transport industry, it is not looking to kill off normal cars.

Pictures: PA. An early version of Google’s prototype vehicle, left, and an artist’s impression of the car that will be driven by a combination of sensors and computing.