Google’s Autonomous Autos

Google has taken absolute dominance over the online search engine industry and it is now aiming its resources towards autonomous vehicles. According to News Today Digest, Google’s driver-less car project will have achieved a 300,000 mile test-drive marker on Tuesday. The vehicle has driven through various terrains – all without a single accident or crash.

The drive less program began at the Googleplex in 2010. Its robot controlled vehicles toured Silicon to Santa Monica in Los Angeles. They drove through San Francisco’s Lombard Street and Golden Gate Bridge then headed down Pacific Coast Highway and around Lake Tahoe. Even Lombard Street’s infamous curving road was no match for the robotic vehicles, there were no accidents. The only accidents which the fleet of Google Prius vehicles has tallied against them were when a human was behind the wheel.

A Lexus RX450h has been equipped with the range of radar sensors, cameras, and laser range-finders and sophisticated programs which are the norm for the fleet of Toyota Prius vehicles. The specialized equipment helps the vehicle maneuver through road traffic along with Google Maps. The maps aid the software to direct the vehicle through alternative roads. Onboard, every time there are two people who can take over the vehicle in case something was to happen such as an uncontrolled situation or a malfunction. The two person back-up crew has evolved to a single person backup crewman.

An American driver in the U.S. on average has one accident per roughly each 165,000 miles according to research performed by the Federal Highway Administration. This insight and fervor into electronic technological advances has fueled the drive for Google’s drive less vehicles. However, the firm has admitted that the road to completely autonomous vehicles is a long way from now. Autonomy in vehicles may be the answer to reducing traffic and allowing morning commute distractions, such as eating en route to work, or reading the latest book.