Google's self-driving cars were spotted test-driving in the roads of Austin, Texas. Google used the Lexus RX crossover autonomous cars for the test drive.
Google said that it will be test driving its autonomous cars in Austin's downtown area. Austin will be the first major city to host Google's autonomous car test drives outside of the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
According to Digital Trends, while being test driven, the Google autonomous cars will have two safety drivers on board in case any equipment or software error will manifest. This is to make sure that the Google autonomous cars will not cause any accident or injury while being tested.
While being road-tested, the self-driving cars will have monitoring drivers filling up Google's database with details of the city road giving tips to the test cars of every curb the car is about to take. The monitors also add to the data taken by the Google Maps or Streetview.
According to Google, their main goal is road safety by using intelligent cars. The company believes that the cars will reduce death rates due to traffic accidents. The cars have sensors designed to detect objects meters away in every direction. The car will detect pedestrians, other vehicles, trash on the road and other things that might affect or distract a driver.
The car has a built-in software that processes information that helps in safely driving the road. It reduces accidents by human error since the software never gets tired or distracted.
Google was able to acquire test drive permission from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Department of Transportation as well as local authorities' before rolling out its self-driving cars on the streets of Austin. However, Google did not inform the local public that it is launching its autonomous car models and this led to some local residents questioning whether Google's test drive is legal.