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Is Google’s “Driverless” Car Safer Than Your Average Driver?

Posted by Cwork on August 8, 2012 · 1 Comment 

Google is at it again, just this time not where you might expect it. Unless, of course, you know about the company’s  ”driverless” cars project.  Yesterday, the Silicon Valley giant announced that its “driverless” cars have completed over 300,000 miles of driving without one single accident. Each car was accompanied by two employees, and the testing was completed in a wide range of conditions. Technically speaking, Google’s car is safer than your average American driver. That conclusion was found and is broken down by Mashable below:

“The average U.S. driver has one accident roughly every 165,000 miles. Here’s how we got that figure: our average mileage per year is 16,550, according to the Federal Highway Administration; the average length of time we go between traffic accidents is 10 years, according to Allstate. (In particularly safe cities such as Fort Collins, Colo., that number can rise to 14 years — which is still no match for Google’s 300,000 miles.)”

Despite these numbers, Google still has much work to do before this bad boy hits the market. This is echoed by one of the head engineers on the project, Chris Urmson.

To provide the best experiences we can, we will need to master snow-covered roadways, interpret temporary construction signals and handle any other tricky situations that drivers encounter.

The Google car is a Toyota Prius equipped with cameras, sensors, laser range finders and other software, and the company is also adding a Lexus RH450h to its fleet. The project’s next step will involve Google employees taking the car to work.

The “driverless” car poses many questions about the future of cars and technology. What will the car of future look like? What features will it have? The infographic below explores some of these questions and explains how technology could revolutionize the automobile industry.

infographic source: Mashable