Sebastian Thrun's and Google are testing the Toyota Prius as an Autonomous Driving vehicle. Not only has this self-driving car has been cruising California’s Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but it has also been navigating its way through traffic along Lombard Street, one of the steepest and curviest roads in the country!
Thus far the vehicle has driven 1000 miles without human intervention and 140,000 miles with minimal human intervention, (like when a bicyclist suddenly runs a red light.) In the instance that a person needs to intervene, one simply grabs the steering wheel, hits the breaks, or punches a red button on the dashboard.
The car is equipped with 360-degree perception that reaches up to 200 feet away. This information is fed into the dashboard that coordinates with the GPS to create a 3D map detailed to include street lamps and pedestrians.
Mr. Thrun says they do not have a clear business plan for the technology as of yet, but the autonomous driving will reduce fuel consumption, reduce accidents from 37000 each year, and use lighter weight materials to build the vehicle, thus lightening the damage to the environment.
What is event better: our fears of texting while driving will be a thing of the past.