A Panic Button and No Steering Wheel: A Look at Google's First Self-Driving Car The tech giant unveils a prototype of a tiny car that drives itself -- no human intervention required.

By Jason Fell

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Imagine getting into your car, sitting back and relaxing, not having to stress about hectic highway traffic, parking or just about anything else associated with the driving process. For some people, that might sound like a dream come true.

It's been more than three years in the making, but Google has finally pulled back the curtain on a prototype of its first self-driving car. It was unveiled late yesterday by Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the Recode conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.

Google's prototype is tiny and appears to have a face on the front and camera attached to the top. The vehicles are not equipped with a steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal. The only controls a driver has is a start button and a red "e-stop" button for panic stops.

Related: Are Self-Driving Cars Only a Matter of Time?

Right now, the vehicle maxes out at 25 mph.

"They have sensors that remove blind spots, and they can detect objects out to a distance of more than two football fields in all directions, which is especially helpful on busy streets with lots of intersections," Google said in a blog post announcing the prototypes.

Here's a short promo video of the self-driving car:

Earlier this month, Google showed off its self-driving tech in real-world demonstrations using vehicles made by Toyota and Lexus.

With this project, Google is assuming the general public will gladly relinquish its control of hitting the open road to a smart car. I, for one, enjoy driving and wouldn't plan to go 100 percent driverless.

Related: The Only Thing Scarier Than Self-Driving Cars Are the Hackers Waiting to Attack Them

In the meantime, Google is planning to build about a hundred of these prototype cars and a team of safety drivers will begin testing them later this summer. "If all goes well, we'd like to run a small pilot program here in California in the next couple of years," Google said. "We're going to learn a lot from this experience, and if the technology develops as we hope, we'll work with partners to bring this technology into the world safely."

Would you want a self-driving car? Or do you prefer having control behind the wheel? Let us know in the comments below.

Wavy Line
Jason Fell

VP, Native Content

Jason Fell is the VP of Native Content, managing the Entrepreneur Partner Studio, which creates dynamic and compelling content for our partners. He previously served as Entrepreneur.com's managing editor and as the technology editor prior to that.

Editor's Pick

She's Been Coding Since Age 7 and Presented Her Life-Saving App to Tim Cook Last Year. Now 17, She's on Track to Solve Even Bigger Problems.
Lock
I Helped Grow 4 Unicorns Over 10 Years That Generated $18 Billion in Online Revenues. Here's What I've Learned.
Lock
Want to Break Bad Habits and Supercharge Your Business? Use This Technique.
Lock
Don't Have Any Clients But Need Customer Testimonials? Follow These 3 Tricks To Boost Your Rep.
Why Are Some Wines More Expensive Than Others? A Top Winemaker Gives a Full-Bodied Explanation.

Related Topics

Business News

Apple Just Unveiled Its VR Headset. What You Need to Know.

The Vision Pro is Apple's first major product launch since AirPods.

Growing a Business

The Best Way to Run a Business Meeting

All too often, meetings run longer than they should and fail to keep attendees engaged. Here's how to run a meeting the right way.

Fundraising

Working Remote? These Are the Biggest Dos and Don'ts of Video Conferencing

As more and more businesses go remote, these are ways to be more effective and efficient on conference calls.

Marketing

5 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Email Marketing

Abide by these simple tricks to help your campaigns gain more visibility and generate revenue in the process.

Science & Technology

'We Were Sucked In': How to Protect Yourself from Deepfake Phone Scams.

Phone fraudsters are using AI to clone the voices of loved or trusted people to rip them off. Here's how to detect if the phone is real or robot.