Google launches self-driving car: 'Goodbye steering wheel and pedals, it's the future'

"They won't have a steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedal-because they won't need them. Our software and sensors will do all the work." This is how Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving cars project, describes future self-driving cars. If until now the Mountain View giant had limited itself to equipping various Toyota and Lexus hybrids with sensors, this time it is going further, to the point of designing - from scratch - the appearance and functionality of tomorrow's cars. The long-term goal is ambitious: to build cars in which you simply select a destination and sit in the seat while the car "drives," as if it were a driverless cab. This is a project that opens up new perspectives in mobility, as it also caters to people without a driver's license, the elderly, and the blind, as well as overcoming the risks associated with driving when tired or drunk.

The first Google car prototypes have very simple, almost cartoonish lines, but for now the design matters little, since these are experimental vehicles that must first allow the technology to be tested on the road and gather information. The equipment is basic: two seats with seat belts, plenty of room for luggage, an ignition button and a screen showing the route. Nothing else, apart from external sensors, which Google says will be able to monitor the space around the car, with no blind spots, and detect obstacles "at a distance of two football fields" (so over 200 meters). For safety issues, on the experimental cars, speed will be limited initially to 40 km/h.

For those who think this is pure science fiction, Google lets it be known that it is preparing to build about a hundred prototypes: "Starting at the end of the summer, our pilots will begin testing a few examples equipped with manual controls. If all goes well, we would like to develop a small pilot project here in California in a couple of years. We will learn a lot from this experience, and if the technology develops as we hope, we will work with some partners to bring it into the real world." It's a safe bet that automakers won't be long in coming forward.