Google’s driverless cars are ‘safer’ than human drivers

LONDON — Google’s self-driving Prius and Lexus cars are safer and smoother than cars driven by humans, according to the leader of the tech company's autonomous-car project.

“We’re spending less time in near-collision states. Our car is driving more smoothly and more safely than our trained professional drivers,” Mr Urmson was quoted saying during a robotics conference in California, according to Mashable.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Urmson presented results from two studies that looked at data from Google’s cars on public roads in California and Nevada. The studies showed that when a human was behind the wheel, Google’s cars accelerated and braked significantly more sharply than they did when piloting themselves.

The cars’ software was also proven to be better at keeping a safe distance between vehicles than human drivers could.

In one test, a Google car was hit by another driver. The car’s data was used to create an annotated map of the surroundings, proving what happened.

Mr Urmson added: “We don’t have to rely on eyewitnesses that can’t act be trusted as to what happened — we actually have the data.

“The guy around us wasn’t paying enough attention. The data will set you free.”

Since 2010, Google has been testing its cars on public roads, at the same time ensuring there is a human in the driver’s seat who can take over if necessary.

Plans for a new dashboard display are in the works, with a feature that could help people understand what the autonomous car is doing and when they might want to take over, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Google said it is thinking about different ways of bringing the cars to the market. AGENCIES