Buzz around the town happens to be the news that the America-based search engine, Google, has designed futuristic automated cars, which have completed 3,00,000 miles in test drives without a glitch. Head, Engineering, Chris Urmon, stated, “Our vehicles, of which about a dozen are on the road at any given time, have now completed more than 300,000 miles of testing. They've covered a wide range of traffic conditions, and there hasn't been a single accident under computer control.”
The company has modified Toyota Prius, the hybrid model, with a host of cameras, radar sensors and laser range-finders to analyse the traffic. Besides these, the company’s advanced software engages Google Maps to navigate the vehicle easily. According to Urmon, Lexus RX450h is the recent addition to the fleet of self-driven cars. The level of confidence invested by the Google in this project is highlighted by the fact that company now believes that the car need to be manhandled only in emergencies, thus, reducing the active involvement of the driver.
Coming to India, even though country does not boasts of an infrastructure and roadways like USA, it must be hoping that the car makes way to its shores, considering higher number of fatalities in road accidents. However, if the technology gets refined and eligible for practical purpose with an economical price, it may be introduced here any time in near future. This makes sense as according to a WHO report in 2011, India witnesses the most count road accidents across the globe. Owing to poor infrastructure and rash driving cases, around 1,05,000 individuals renounce their lives every year.
Currently, the deaths in India due to road accidents are currently clocking at 14 per hour, which is a gruesome figure. On this, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Dr. Tushar A. Choudhary, said, “The Working Group on Road Accidents, Injury Prevention and Control set up by the Planning Commission in the year 2000 had assessed the social cost of road accidents in India at Rs. 55,000 crore, which constituted about 3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country in the year 1999-2000.”
Considering these facts, it is apparent that whenever the self-driven cars from Google make an appearance in the country they will come as a blessing. Those pedestrians, who are scared to even set foot on roads, owing to detrimental safety measures, can now hope to be safe while walking across a road.
