Over these past few years, Google has been testing Lexus cars with self driving technology. Just this Tuesday (May 27th) that they would start using the new self driving technology in their own cars. They also gave the reporters a preview of their new cars.

These new cars will contain two seats, two buttons, and a screen that will show the route the car is on. The entire car is controlled by laser and radar sensors.

Jess Gullak, FHS student, shares her opinion about the driverless cars

“I think the new cars are a fabulous idea, like how cool is a self driven car?”

Google’s driverless car depends on the Google road maps. However, the “driver” uses an app on their phone and select their destination. Then the car drives them to that destination.

The only controls in the car is a stop/go, and emergency button and will get a range of 100 miles. The Google car will have two sets of steering and braking systems, so if one of them does not work, the other can take over.

To help reduce the risks of crashes, the front of the car will be made of a material like foam and the windshield will not be made of glass, but will be made of plastic. To start off, the prototype will only be able to go up to 25 mph.

Over the next few months, Google safety drivers will be testing these new cars out by bringing employees around a campus. If this is a success, they hope they could get these cars on the open road. To be able to do this, the cars will need to get more controls, so if there is a problem, Google test drivers can take over (California‘s new automated driving rules).