(Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. is ready to take the self-drivingcars it designed onto public roads, another step in the company’sefforts to change the way people use vehicles.
|The Internet-search giant plans to put a “few” of its small carson roads in Mountain View, California, this summer, graduating fromthe test track, Chris Urmson, director of the self-driving projectsaid Friday in a blog post. They will use safety drivers with thevehicles, which were first unveiled last year. Until now, Googlehas tested the technology using existing automobiles made by ToyotaMotor Corp.
|Google is stepping up investment in the project as it looks fornew ways to spur the development of self-driving vehicles. Thecompany has made 25 of the vehicles, which look like something outof a futuristic cartoon, and will roll them out a few at a time,Google said in an e-mail.
|“We’re looking forward to learning how the community perceivesand interacts with the vehicles, and to uncovering challenges thatare unique to a fully self-driving vehicle -- e.g., where it shouldstop if it can’t stop at its exact destination due to constructionor congestion,” Urmson said.
|The vehicles are capped at 25 miles per hour (40 kph), andduring the next phase of testing the drivers will have access to aremovable steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal, whichwill let them take over if needed.
|The company revealed earlier this week that the vehiclesmodified with the self-driving technology have been involved in 11minor accidents in the six years they’ve been in testing -- andthat the cars were never to blame for the incidents. The majorityof the collisions happened when the experimental autos were hitfrom behind, with some on the freeway and some at trafficlights.
|Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.
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