New self-driving Google car heads to streets

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The latest version of Google's self-driving car -- a pod-like two-seater that needs no gas pedal or steering wheel -- will make its debut on public roads this summer, a significant step in the technology giant's mission to have driverless cars available to consumers in the next five years.

This prototype is the first vehicle built from scratch for the purpose of self-driving, Google says. It looks like a Smart car with a shiny black bowler hat to hide its sensors, and it can drive, brake and recognize road hazards without human intervention. It has more capabilities than the prototype Google introduced in May 2014, which was so rudimentary, it had fake headlights.

The new pod isn't designed for a long trip, or a joyride. It lacks air bags and other federally required safety features, so it can't go more than 25 miles per hour. It's electric and has to be recharged after 80 miles. And the pod can drive only in areas that have been thoroughly mapped by Google.

At first, it likely will have a steering wheel and gas pedal -- current California regulations require them. Those regulations also require a driver to take back control of the car at any time. But Google is lobbying for more flexible regulations.

Google will build and test 25 pods, mostly in neighborhoods surrounding its Mountain View headquarters. It eventually will build between 50 and 100 and will broaden testing to sites that are hillier and rainier.

Google's new self-driving prototype is shown from the side during a demonstration Wednesday at Google in Mountain View, California. The car needs no gas pedal or steering wheel. (Tony Avelar ~ Associated Press)

The goal, said Google co-founder Sergey Brin, is computer-controlled cars that can eliminate human error, a factor in an estimated 90 percent of the 1.2 million road deaths that occur worldwide each year. Self-driving cars also could improve traffic congestion and transport the elderly and disabled.

Google shocked the auto industry in 2010 with its announcement it was working on a driverless car. Brin insists Google doesn't aspire to be a car company, but wants its technology to be adopted by automakers.

"We want to partner to bring self-driving to all the vehicles in the world," Brin said last week.

For now, the traditional automakers are pursuing their own self-driving technology, but with a less-ambitious timeline of 10 to 15 years for a truly driverless car.

Chris Urmson, who directs Google's self-driving car project, says the slow-moving, friendly-looking prototype -- his young son thinks it looks like a koala because of the noselike black laser on the front -- is a good bridge between the company's current test fleet of 20 specially outfitted Lexus SUVs and the more advanced, higher-speed driverless cars of its future, which might not look like anything on the road today.

"This vehicle is really all about us learning. This vehicle could go on a freeway, but when we think about introducing the technology, we want to do that very thoughtfully and very safely," Urmson said.

Convincing drivers driverless technology is safe is one of the hurdles the company must overcome. Last week, in response to questions from The Associated Press, Google acknowledged 11 minor accidents in the six years it has been testing autonomous cars. Urmson said the company is proud of that record, and notes Google's vehicles have completed more than 1.7 million miles of testing. He said all but one of the accidents were caused by drivers in other cars; in the only incident caused by a Google car, a staffer was driving in manual mode.

Consumers question whether they can trust self-driving cars to work all the time, who will be liable if there's an accident and how self-driving cars will interact with regular cars, said the consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates. In a 2013 survey of U.S. drivers, J.D. Power found only one in five was interested in a fully autonomous car.

Urmson said Google needs to do a better job of educating people about self-driving technology and updating them on Google's progress. It's building a Web site to teach people about the technology, and the site will feature a monthly report that will include details of any accidents involving Google cars. The site also will have a section where people can send feedback when they interact with the cars.

The prototype cars -- assembled in suburban Detroit by Roush Industries -- have the same array of radars, lasers and cameras as Google's fleet of Lexus SUVs, which allows them to share data. If one car's camera spots orange cones and construction signs, for example, it will alert all the others to slow down in that area or reroute around a lane closure.

Dmitri Dolgov, head of software for the self-driving car project, said Google's software has gotten much better over the last year at classifying objects, such as trees and mailboxes, and predicting behavior of pedestrians and other cars. For example, Google's cars will slow if they sense a car in the next lane is speeding up to cut in front of them. And in one recent test, a Google car paused when a cyclist ran a red light. Another car, driven by a human, went ahead and nearly hit the cyclist.

The system isn't perfect. On a test drive, one of Google's Lexus SUVs seemed momentarily confused when a mail truck partially blocked its path. Later, during a demonstration drive in Google's parking lot, the prototype -- without a wheel or pedal -- braked when it spotted a row of folding chairs. It had to figure out the chairs wouldn't move before it proceeded.

Dolgov said it's impossible to predict everything its test cars might see, so they're programmed to act in the most conservative way when they confront something unusual, like the time a Google SUV stopped and waited while a woman in a wheelchair chased a duck with a broom.

Google isn't alone in developing self-driving cars. Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti and other brands have advanced driver assistance systems, such as lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control, that can pilot the car on the highway with minimal input from the driver. Unlike Google, automakers think self-driving cars will arrive feature-by-feature instead of at once, giving people plenty of time to adapt to autonomous driving.

But Urmson said that approach is "fundamentally wrong."

"We believe that's like saying, 'If I work really hard at jumping, one day I'll just be able to fly,"' he said.

Egil Juliussen, principal analyst of infotainment and advanced driver assist systems for the consulting firm IHS Automotive, said Google's "moon shot" strategy is difficult and riskier than adding features to existing cars.

But he thinks it ultimately could be successful. Google could make self-driving urban pods for universities or urban centers, for example, or sell its technology to automakers.

Brin said the company is refining its plans for self-driving cars, but he's excited about their potential.

"Our goal is to create something safer than human drivers," he said.