Google Builds a Self-Driving Car

There seems to be nothing that Google can’t do!

The self-driving car project has been kept quiet for a long time. But it was recently revealed at a TED conference.

So why is Google doing this? (As if, ‘Why not?’ isn’t a good enough answer). From Google’s blog:

According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half.

How does it work?

Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps (which we collect using manually driven vehicles) to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain.

So we may not have flying cars yet, but self-driving cars are pretty freakin’ awesome.