Google's Driverless Cars (Video)

I never bothered to get my driver's license, I knew I'd only have to wait a few more years before some smarty-pants company would come up with a car that drives you everywhere with no effort required, Minority Report style (besides I already have one, it's called a boyfriend). Google is close to being the first company in the world to bring you an automated car, and is currently asking the state of Nevada to allow its prototypes on the roads. It was also revealed it had secretly test-driven the vehicles over more than 140,000 miles in California. Pretty nutty, the future is almost here! Oh no wait, that's the flying kind.

Google’s driverless cars are equipped with video cameras, GPS units, radar sensors, and a laser range finder. They learn a route as a human motorist drives along it, and on subsequent trips the cars take over, using their sensors to react to changing conditions, like when pedestrians are in a crosswalk. Google’s vehicles have two people aboard during tests, one observing from the driver’s seat and one keeping an eye on the car’s equipment.

Via Discover Magazine.