Google Reveals First Real Build of their Self-Driving Car Prototype.

Google Self-Driving Car Prototype.

For quite some time, Google has been working on a self-driving car. We’ve seen progress over the past few months in Google’s foray into the auto field, but the first working car to debut was only an early prototype. In fact, the car in the self-driving promotional video didn’t even have working headlights! Now that’s all changed as Google showed off their first “complete prototype” for the very first time in an announcement today.

The company has been working on a number of different prototypes to test different areas of the car. For instance, they would have two separate test cars: one that focuses on actual car parts like steering wheels or brakes, and another for self-driving parts like computers and sensors. Now, they’ve come up with a fully-complete prototype.

Google says they’ll spend the holidays testing the car on their test tracks, and they hope to get the car on the streets sometime within the year 2015. In the mean time, Google’s safety drivers will continue to oversee the way the vehicle runs, using temporary manual controls as needed while they continue to test and learn.

This hopefully means that we should begin seeing some more progress come out of Google’s self-driving labs in the near future.

Google self-driving car concept

Google is taking over the future, one application at the time.

Today, from the not-Android-but-mind-blowing department, we have the first self-driving car designed from the ground up by Google. Yes, it looks like something a cartoon character would get around in, but what really matters is what’s on the inside or, better said, what isn’t.

There’s no steering wheel, no pedals, no shift stick, not even a rearview mirror, because why would you need it when the car does all the driving?

Google has long been working on self-driving cars, but until now it used regular cars like Toyota Prius hybrids or Lexus SUVs modified with a self-driving system. This completely new model was designed and built in-house by Google as a prototype, and the company wants to manufacture about 100 units in the following months.

Following a test period that will see pilots “drive” versions with manual controls, Google hopes it’ll be able to let a limited number of cars roam on their own on California’s roads within the next two years.

For now, the car is limited to 25mph (40km/h) and the interior is mostly empty. There’s not much to look at because Google just wants to introduce the concept and prove that it’s feasible and, more importantly, safe.

More details on Google’s blog post and in this preview from Re/code.