“Every Monday at eleven-thirty, the lead engineers for the Google car project meet for a status update. The Google car has now driven more than half a million miles without causing an accident, almost twice as far as the average American driver goes before crashing. Of course, the car has always had a human driver to take over in tight spots: the car has trouble in the rain, for instance, when its lasers bounce off shiny surfaces. And yet, for each of its failings, it has a corresponding strength. It never gets drowsy or distracted, never wonders who has the right of way. Unlike its riders, it can see in the dark. Left to its own devices, Sebastian Thrun says, it could go about fifty thousand miles on freeways without a major mistake; within a year, it should be safe for a hundred thousand miles.”
