Google’s Self Driving cars are on loose on public roads of California, although they are just being tested for good and not to race with the human drivers. Google has set the top speed limit to 25 mph as the company is of the view that the car is “neighborhood friendly”.
The car has been equipped with much more controls than the actual prototype, although Google is aiming at attaining the ultimate of goal of having these cars “work without a steering wheel or pedals,”. For the test on public roads of California, the car will have a safety human driver inside with a removable steering wheel and a set of pedals for brake and accelerator.
When Google unveiled the self-driving car for the first time, it included touchscreen controls, an emergency stop button and a go button. The car takes the route as directed by the passengers sitting inside the car by tapping the display inside the car or the directions can also be given remotely via phone. All these control failed to please the Department Of Motor vehicles (DMV) in terms of safety, they told Google that in order to test these cars on public roads it has got to add more of ’traditional’ security features.
Due to the strict guidelines by DMV, Google gave in and included wheels and pedals to the pod-like car. The company insisted on the fact that these are temporary changes in the car for the sake of test and that the initial controls supplied in the prototype are suffice to ensure safety. Google said that it is pretty confident that motor laws will soon be overhauled as per advancement in technology.
Google’s self-driving car team stated, “As we start to cruise around the neighborhood, we really want to hear what our neighbors think.” Honestly the chances are low that someone will spot these vehicles overtaking any vehicle (25mph speed limit, duh), but folks in California might get the opportunity to see these white pod-like cars being driven on the public roads. Also, Google has not yet revealed any information about opening these cars for test drives by general public anytime soon.
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