Google’s self-driving cars get improved city driving capabilities

We’ve heard about Google’s self-driving cars for a couple of years now, and while those working on the project have been pretty quiet, Google has released its most detailed look yet at how these autonomous vehicles would work.

Up until now, the cars had been doing lots of highway driving, but the navigation of cities proved more challenging. Today, Google announced that it has been fine-tuning how the car detects “hundreds of distant objects” to make it possible for the car to navigate safely in complex city streets.

[ Related: California to decide by year’s end how to integrate driverless cars ]

The Verge reports the software in the self-driving cars has been updated to detect stop signs held by crossing cards, turning signals made by cyclists, and can detect closed lanes, parked vehicles and plenty of other city hazards, as shown in this newly-released video:

The cars have been driving through Google’s home base of Mountain View, California. Project Director Chris Urmson explains that while a human would get tired or distracted trying to see all of the things happening outside of the car at the same time, the computer hardware and software will always be able to focus on multiple things at once.

“As it turns out, what looks chaotic and random on a city street to the human eye is actually fairly predictable on a computer,” writes Urmson. “As we’ve encountered thousands of different situations, we’ve built software models of what to expect, from the likely (a car stopping at a red light) to the unlikely (blowing through it).

Since the last update in August 2013, the self-driving cars have logged an additional 400,000 miles, bringing a lifetime total of 700,000 miles driven. Previously, Google has said it will need to drive “millions” of miles in the cars before they are deemed appropriate for widespread sale.

The progress of Google’s self-driving cars increases the urgency of California’s efforts to regulate self-driving cars, and working out how to incorporate them onto public roads. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles must address questions like, “How will the state know the cars are safe?” and “Do owners get docked points on their license if they send a car to park itself and it slams into another vehicle?”

Draft legislation to answer these questions and more will likely come in June and be finalized by the end of the year, Associated Press reports.

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