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Google: Fleet Tests of Driverless Cars Due This Year
The head of Google Inc.'s autonomous car program says the company will begin allowing the public to try out its completely automated car in as little as two years.
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The head of Google Inc.'s autonomous car program says the company will begin allowing the public to try out its completely automated car in as little as two years.
Chris Urmson tells attendees at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit that Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is already testing a prototype of the two-seater, which has no steering wheel or control pedals, on a closed course.
The company plans to deploy a fleet of the cars fitted with temporary plug-in driver controls on public roads in California later this year. Urmson confirms Michigan-based Roush Industries Inc. is building a fleet of the bulbous cars. Google said earlier it expects to deploy about 200 of them.
Other companies involved in the project include Bosch (radar and power electronics), Continental (brakes and electronics), LG Electronics (batteries), Nvidia (microprocessors) and ZF Lenksysteme (steering system), according to Urmson.
He says Google hopes to find an established carmaker to produce its automated shuttle in high volume about five years from now.
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