Roush to Build Google’s New Self-Driving Car?

Roush Enterprises Inc. in Allen Park, Mich., has been hired by Google Inc. to assemble at least 100 self-driving minicars, according to Crain's Detroit Business, which cites unidentified sources.

Roush a provider of engineering, testing, prototyping and manufacturing services and Google have declined to comment on the Crain's report.

On Tuesday Google said it aims to deploy a fleet of about 200 driverless cars to continue its development work on autonomous vehicles. The company has accumulated some 700,000 miles of autonomous driving to date, using conventional cars retrofitted with cameras, sensors and computers.

For safety, Google's tests are conducted with two people on board. The podlike two-seaters Roush will assemble are designed to operate at speeds as high as 25 mph without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator. Google indicates the cars will be fitted with plug-in modules for all three functions during on-road tests.