Google builds their own self-driving car

You may have heard the news already, but perhaps you didn’t believe it – because it really is almost unbelievable.

While we have heard of Google’s Prius powered self-driving cars before, we have not been well acquainted with their very own, ‘built-from-scratch’ self-driving car. This is mainly because it was only shown to the public for the very first time last week.

The mega tech company invited a handful of everyday, normal people like us to witness their very first prototype of their self-driving car in action. And needless to say, the people there (as well as us) were kind of blown away.

At first glance, the car looks kind of like a Smart Car crossed with a 1980′s plastic toy car – it’s tiny.

However, upon further inspection, you can actually see the craftsmanship and mind-blowing technological advances that reside in this petite, playful, self-driving car.

On the inside is what appears to be a couch. Also, what is most noticeably absent is a) a steering wheel and b) an accelerator or brakes. Now initially we were very concerned when we saw that there are no brakes. But, the people over at Google aren’t that crazy; luckily (for piece of mind) there is a big, red stop button that will, obviously, stop the car when you push it.

The car has internal power steering as well as hiding the brakes internally.

According to Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, the car has way more sensors than a normal car would have, thanks to the absence of an external steering wheel, accelerator or brakes.

The fact that there are more sensors to the self-driving car than the car that you and I drive, it makes the tiny thing safer; by placing the multitude of sensors in more strategic places.

At present, the car has a top speed of 25 miles per hour, which translates to round about 40 km/h. Not very fast, but then again, it’s only the first prototype. The company has said that they would one day wish the car to reach up to 100 miles per hour – or 160 km/h for you and me.

But, is still a long time before we will see any of these ghost like cars on our public roads. Obviously, the car will still need to pass a mountain of safety measures before it’s given the green light (literally).

In the mean time, you can check out a video of the little thing in action – and also revel at the reactions of the lucky few that got to have a ride in it:

Source: Bandwidth Blog

Source : carblog[dot]co[dot]za