Meet Google's self-driving car - VIDEO

It looks like the sort of cartoon car that Noddy might drive.But this is the computerised ‘hands-free’ self-driving bubble car planned by Google.The car has no steering wheel, brake or accelerator pedals, just buttons for start, pull over and emergency stop and a computer screen showing your route.Google hopes to have 100 of the revolutionary two-seater electric-powered  vehicles on roads within a year – provided the law allows them.But no sooner had the plans been announced than cyber-security experts were warning the software could be targeted by hackers to create traffic mayhem.Google plans to have prototypes ready to test later this summer and says the goal is for the car to ‘shoulder the entire burden of driving’.Google says the car has a ‘friendly’ face to give a non-threatening appearance and help the public accept the new technology.The front of the vehicle has a soft foam-like material where a traditional bumper would be and a more flexible windscreen, in a bid to be safer for pedestrians.Speed is restricted to 25mph and the ability to self-drive will depend on specifically designed Google road maps tested on the company’s current fleet of vehicles.This works by using GPS technology to locate the vehicle’s exact position on an electronic map. A combination of radar, lasers and cameras siting on top of the roof give the car a 360-degree ‘view’, with sensors linked to computer software able to ‘see’ and identify people, cars, road signs and markings and traffic lights.The computer brain is programmed with road rules and guides the car to a chosen destination. It combines technology mainstream car manufacturers – including Volvo, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda – have been working on and which already exists in modern cars, such as autonomous braking, adaptive cruise control and lane recognition.The biggest obstacle could be the law. By the end of this year, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles plans to implement regulations for the use of driverless cars. Four US states – Nevada, Florida, California, and Michigan – have passed laws permitting autonomous cars.Project director Chris Urmson said the cars will revolutionise driving, helping to remove the ‘human error’ blamed for nine out of ten crashes.He said: ‘This is a first step for us. It’s going to be incredibly empowering. They won’t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal…because they don’t need them. Our software and sensors do all the work.’Google car safety director Ron Medford, former deputy director of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said road deaths could be drastically reduced by removing human driver error.‘It has the potential to be the most important safety technology the auto industry has ever seen,’ he said. But computer experts warned the reliance on software could lead to ‘spam jams’ and gridlock caused by computer hackers.Will Rockall, director at KPMG’s cyber security team, said: ‘Self-drive cars will probably work through internet connectivity and, just as large volumes of electronic traffic can be routed to overwhelm websites, the opportunity for self-drive traffic being routed to create “spam jams” or disruption is a very real prospect.’(dailymail.co.uk)Bakudaily.az