Self-drive cars on road ‘in 2-5 years’

The head of self-driving cars for Google expects people to be using them on public roads in two to five years.

Chris Urmson says the cars would still be test vehicles, and Google would collect data on how they interact with other vehicles and pedestrians.

Google is working on sensors to detect road signs and other vehicles, and software that analyses all the data. The small, bulbous cars, which come without steering wheels or pedals, are being tested at a Google facility in California.

Urmson would not give a date for putting driverless cars on roads en masse, saying that the system has to be safe enough to work properly.

He told reporters at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit that Google does not know yet how it will make money on the cars.

Urmson wants to reach the point where his test team no longer has to pilot the cars.

“What we really need is to get to the point where we’re learning about how people interact with it, how they are using it, and how can we best bring that to market as a product that people care for,” said Urmson.

Google, which is based in Mountain View, California, may face state regulatory hurdles depending on where it chooses to test the cars in public. Under legislation that Google persuaded California lawmakers to pass in 2012, self-driving cars must have a steering wheel and pedals. Several other states have passed laws formally allowing autonomous cars.