Google's self-driving cars to hit the road within 10 years?

Google has been showing off its brand of self-driving cars to car designers and hopes to see them on the road by this time next decade.

Anthony Levandowski, Google's auto tech lead, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that "We're talking to every car company to see what their level if excitement is."

But before you get too excited, he went on to say that there is still a long way to go down the auto-road before the cars will be on the streets - "millions of miles" of testing, in fact.

Road less travelled

But then, taking driverless car fans on a rollercoaster of emotions, he then added that the system should be hot to trot "much sooner than next decade. If not, shame on us as engineers."

The company hasn't quite figured out exactly how it'll use the automaton car technology though, mulling over options including partnerships with car makers, aftermarket installations or even free as part of a Googley bundle – although Levandowski was quick to add, "I'm not suggesting we're going to do that."

The main problem is that Google isn't sure yet exactly how to ensure that drivers get ample warning should the system fail.

Pretty big problem, that.

From WSJ (£$) via Gizmodo UK