Google’s self-driving cars have been in testing since early 2011, although it experienced its first accident a few months later. Regardless of that, and we’re sure many more undocumented hiccups, Google feels its self-driving cars are improving steadily and expects them to be ready in three to five years.
Product manager of autonomous driving Anthony Levandowski recently spoke at a Society for Automotive Engineers conference, where he revealed Google’s plans to release its self-driving technology in the next three to five years. He also informed those attending the talk “what form it gets released is still to be determined” as a number of legal issues stand in the way for autonomous vehicles to be made available to the public.
As of right now, only California, Florida and Nevada allow for Google’s self-driving vehicles to be driven on roadways. The reason for their acceptance though is purely for testing purposes as a human driver needs to be present while it’s being driven. We’re not sure why an unmanned self-driving car would be needed, but maybe we’re just not thinking outside of the box.
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