CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Researchers at Google Inc. said driving would be a lot safer in the United States if the driving were left to a robotic system rather than a human being.
To prove its point, Google has driven a Prius 140,000 miles using a Light Detection And Ranging sensor on the roof of the car -- and with minimal help from a human driver, InformationWeek reported Monday.
"This is all made possible by Google's data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by our cars when mapping their terrain," explained Google software engineer Sebastian Thrun in an online post.
Google said the LIDAR system could cut the U.S. traffic mortality rate in half, which would save 600,000 lives a year.
It would also allow commuters to catch up on their reading -- or on their work -- while scooting to their jobs, saving untold hours each year given the average commuter sits behind the wheel 52 minutes per day, the report said.
Among the hurdles to overcome before robots become America's chauffeurs is a legal system geared toward homo sapiens and an autocratic attitude towards driving, InformationWeek said.
