The latest version of Google’s self-driving car is all set for on-road testing. Unlike previous test vehicles, the new pod-like two-seater is a purpose-built driverless vehicle and so accelerator pedal and steering wheel need not necessarily be present. Such features will however be a part of the cars used for on-road testing as they are requirements under current California regulations.

On the Google blog, Chris Urmson, the director of the firm’s self-driving car project, wrote that testing on the roads of Mountain View was about to begin.

“We’ve been running the vehicles through rigorous testing at our test facilities, and ensuring our software and sensors work as they’re supposed to on this new vehicle. The new prototypes will drive with the same software that our existing fleet of self-driving Lexus RX450h SUVs uses.

“That fleet has logged nearly a million autonomous miles on the roads since we started the project, and recently has been self-driving about 10,000 miles a week. So the new prototypes already have lots of experience to draw on—in fact, it’s the equivalent of about 75 years of typical American adult driving experience.”

The electric prototype’s speed is capped at 25mph as it lacks air bags and other federally required safety features. Test drives will also see a safety driver on board who will be able to take control via a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedal and brake pedal. If all goes well, testing will then be expanded to hillier, rainier areas.

Google told The Associated Press that there have been 11 minor road incidents in the six years win which they have been testing driverless cars. Urmson says that all bar one were caused by the drivers of other vehicles. In the sole incident caused by a Google car, it was being driven in manual mode by a member of staff.


Dmitri Dolgov, the head of software for the self-driving car project, says Google's software is getting better at predicting the behaviour of pedestrians and other road users. He cited one example in which a Google car paused when a cyclist ran a red light, while another car, driven by a human, continued and nearly hit them. Indeed, Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, says the company’s goal is to create something that is safer than human drivers.

Earlier this month we reported how Google had patented a way for its driverless cars to recognise cyclists' hand signals. The software assesses the distance between a cyclist’s hand and head to determine whether it's seeing a left turn signal, a right turn signal or the dropped left hand that designates a stop in North America.

Here in the UK, the government is currently in the process of rewriting legislation in a bid to ensure the country becomes a world leader in driverless technology. One of the main issues is the question of liability in the event of a collision. Will the driver be liable or the manufacturer and will the owner become responsible for ensuring software is updated?