Google says its self-driving cars are road-ready, four years ahead of target and already driving in Mountain View, California.

In its latest update on its self-driving car project, Google says the driverless cars aren’t without drivers on city streets, however – they have “safety drivers” in the cockpit during this stage of the test, armed with removable steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals to ensure they can take control if necessary.

Google ‘ s car on the road

The cars also have a speed limit of 25 mph in self-driving mode, and are using the same system software that has powered the previously Lexus-made test vehicles with minimal incidents.Watch the cars on YouTube: http://youtu.be/bDOnn0-4Nq8
On its site, Google says:

We’ve been working on our project since 2009, but the dream of self-driving cars goes back much farther.

“It started as early as the 1939 New York World’s Fair where visitors were presented a vision of automated highways. In the mid 2000s, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) organized the Grand Challenges where teams gathered to compete with self-driving vehicles. In 2009, Google started the self-driving car project, including team members who had already dedicated years to the technology.

“We’ve self-driven over 1 million miles and are currently out on the streets of Mountain View, California.

“Our latest prototype vehicles are joining our existing test fleet of Lexus SUV vehicles on the road. Their speed is capped at a neighborhood-friendly 25mph, and there are safety drivers aboard all vehicles for now. Safety drivers provide feedback to the team, making the ride smoother and more comfortable as we continue to refine the technology.

“We’ve taught our cars to navigate through many complicated scenarios on city streets.

“Our cars use their sensors and software to sense objects like pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and more, and are designed to safely drive around them”