Just press go: designing a self-driving vehicle

Ever since we started the Google self-driving car project, we�ve been working toward the goal of vehicles that can shoulder the entire burden of driving. Just imagine: You can take a trip downtown at lunchtime without a 20-minute buffer to find parking. Seniors can keep their freedom even if they can�t keep their car keys. And drunk and distracted driving? History.

We�re now exploring what fully self-driving vehicles would look like by building some prototypes; they�ll be designed to operate safely and autonomously without requiring human intervention. They won�t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal� because they don�t need them. Our software and sensors do all the work. The vehicles will be very basic�we want to learn from them and adapt them as quickly as possible�but they will take you where you want to go at the push of a button. And that's an important step toward improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of people.

It was inspiring to start with a blank sheet of paper and ask, �What should be different about this kind of vehicle?� We started with the most important thing: safety. They have sensors that remove blind spots, and they can detect objects out to a distance of more than two football fields in all directions, which is especially helpful on busy streets with lots of intersections. And we�ve capped the speed of these first vehicles at 25 mph. On the inside, we�ve designed for learning, not luxury, so we�re light on creature comforts, but we�ll have two seats (with seatbelts), a space for passengers� belongings, buttons to start and stop, and a screen that shows the route�and that�s about it.

A very early version of our prototype vehicle, and an artistic rendering of our vehicle

We�re planning to build about a hundred prototype vehicles, and later this summer, our safety drivers will start testing early versions of these vehicles that have manual controls. If all goes well, we�d like to run a small pilot program here in California in the next couple of years. We�re going to learn a lot from this experience, and if the technology develops as we hope, we�ll work with partners to bring this technology into the world safely.

If you�d like to follow updates about the project and share your thoughts, please join us on our new Google+ page. We�re looking forward to learning more about what passengers want in a vehicle where their number one job is to kick back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Posted by Chris Urmson, Director, Self-Driving Car Project