Self-driving cars are mastering city streets: Google

Despite the progress over the past year, the cars have plenty of learning to do before 2017, when the Silicon Valley tech giant hopes to get the technology to the public. None of the traditional automakers has been so bullish. Instead, they have rolled out features incrementally, including technology that brakes and accelerates in stop-and-go traffic or keeps cars in their lanes. 

‘I think the Google technology is great stuff. But I just don’t see a quick pathway to the market,’ said David Alexander, a senior analyst with Navigant Research who specializes in autonomous vehicles. His projection is that self-driving cars will not be commercial available until 2025. Google’s self-driving cars already can navigate freeways comfortably, albeit with a driver ready to take control. In a new blog post, the project’s leader said test cars now can handle thousands of urban situations that would have stumped them a year or two ago. 

‘We’re growing more optimistic that we’re heading toward an achievable goal — a vehicle that operates fully without human intervention,’ project director Chris Urmson wrote. The benefits would include fewer accidents, since in principle machines can drive more safely than people. Urmson’s post was the company’s first official update since 2012 on a project that is part of the company’s secretive Google X lab.