Google Now Testing Car That May One Day Come Without Steering Wheel
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- Google is testing its self-driving cars on city streets in Mountain View.
The cartoon-like cars were the stuff of dreams years ago, but are now a reality on Mountain View's suburban streets.
"The cars look really, really cute. It actually looks like they came out of a computer game or out of space," Peleg Bar of Mountain View said.
Bar has been sharing the road with Google's self-driving Lexus' for years.
"I feel safe when I drive next to him," Bar said.
A Google blog said that the cars have "a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and brake pedal that allow them to take over driving if needed."
The new models are designed to ultimately work without a steering wheel or pedals. The black bubble on top has scanners that can map everything around it in 360 degrees. For now, the two-seater prototypes have humans inside in case of an emergency.
"I trust technology more than people. There's so many bad drivers in the Bay Area," Bernhard Gass of Mountain View said.
The goal of this latest phase is to help the company get a better idea of how well its technology works with other cars on the road.
Google is also asking its neighbors to submit feedback on the cars on its website dedicated to the self-driving car.
Longtime resident John Schultz is already giving them the green light.
"I think they've been designed in such a fashion as to not be aggressive. I think it's also a great advantage for people who are disabled, blind, who would be able to use it, or elderly. I think it's the future."