483,000 kilometers without a single accident

Google’s bold experiment in creating self-propelled cars is surprisingly successful. Engineers pleased with the news of overcoming the next turn: the cars participating in the experiment drove 300,000 miles (483,000 km) in a variety of road conditions, night and day, in heavy traffic and rain. What is most surprising, under the control of a computer, not a single accident has happened yet!

Developers say they are inspired by progress, but are not going to stop there. There are still many difficulties ahead. For example, driving on snow-covered roads, where markings are not clearly visible, recognizing temporary road signs and other ambiguous situations that may arise on the road.

The fleet of self-propelled Google cars is constantly growing. Now at any given time on the roads is about ten. Add and new models, for example, a couple of months ago added a Lexus RX450h (pictured above).
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As the next stage of the experiment, an autonomous vehicle will soon be used by every Google employee working on this project. He will be able to use it alone, and not in pairs, as now, for any trips, including from home to work, to the store, etc. This is also an important stage, because it makes technology one more step closer to mass use.