The fleet of Google self driving cars has been around for a while now and a latest update confirms that between them they have now done more than 700,000 miles without problems.
To date, the only accidents that have happened with these autonomous have all been down to human mistakes and not computer errors or miscalculations.
Researchers at the technology giant have worked hard on making their driverless cars run even more safely in heavy traffic conditions. Among the recent improvements they have achieved is the fact that cyclists’ hand signals can now be understood perfectly and acted upon. Railroad crossing signals can also now be dealt with correctly.
More Difficult to Drive in the City
Speaking about the subject lately was the head of the self-driving car project at Google, Chris Urmson. He pointed out that driving in urban traffic is a lot more complicated than driving on the motorway, due to the number of objects whizzing about around the car at different speeds.
To deal with this, Google has made their software better in terms of dealing with the many different types of situation the cars could come across. Urmson even goes as far as to suggest that their computer controlled cars are safer than ones with human drivers. This is because they don’t get tired or distracted and can make sense of a chaotic situation more easily than a human can.
Do you think that self-driving cars are the future of motoring or are you still unconvinced by some aspects of these vehicles?
Photo: 2012 Getty Images
