Google takes to the road with its driverless cars

By Ben Judge

published 29 May 2014

in Features

140530-google-car — Google's car: the future of motoring?

The internet is buzzing with news that Google is to build its own self-driving cars. So what exactly are they?

What is it?

Where can I buy one?

Why is Google building driverless cars?

It's worth noting that Google invested $258m in Uber, the controversial cab service app, last year. Marry up a smartphone-operated cab system with cabs that drive themselves, and you could have a very lucrative business.

Will they be safe?

Google's current crop of self-driving hybrid Prius cars have already clocked up over 700,000 incident-free miles in America. (To be fair, there have been two incidents. One was when a human was at the controls, and the other was when the car was hit from behind.)

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Although Google claims the cars will have no controls, the prototypes will initially have a steering wheel, accelerator and brakes to comply with safety laws in America.

Are there any other driverless cars?

driverless car project

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.