Google is testing a car it believes is the future of motoring. The
Internet giant has been testing the car that drives itself for several
months. It has driven along thousands of miles of public roads in
California. The car is guided by sensors, lasers and video cameras. A
Google spokesperson explained to concerned motorists that the car has
never been driven “unmanned,” and had test drivers, just in case things
went wrong. The tech company says its vehicles are still “very much at
the experimental stage”. Google’s interest in artificial intelligence
is a sign that it wants to branch out beyond the web. It is an
extension of its Street View project, in which millions of streets have
been photographed and put online.Google’s blog said the company’s entry into the world of automotive
technology is part of its plans to make the world a better place.
“Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin] founded Google because they wanted to
help solve really big problems using technology,” it wrote. The post
continued: “One of the big problems we’re working on today is car
safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents,
free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally
changing car use.” Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last month that it was
unfortunate that cars were invented before computers: “Your car should
drive itself; it’s amazing to me that we let humans drive cars,” he
told reporters.