Google cars drive like little old ladies

30 September 2015 - 02:29 By ©The Daily Telegraph

Google's driverless cars are being tweaked to drive more as if there were a human behind the wheel - they'll cut corners and edge forward into junctions. The vehicles' "overly cautious" driving habits were seen as possibly contributing to accidents involving cars with human drivers.The self-driving vehicles have racked up more than a million miles on California's roads but often drive with such extreme care - leading to abrupt braking, for example - that human drivers cannot anticipate what they'll do next.In response, Google is trying to teach its cars to drive "more humanistically", according to Chris Urmson, head of the company's self-driving car project.In the six years that Google's fleet of driverless cars have been on the road, they have been involved in 16 accidents. Google has said other cars were responsible in all instances but one - and then the Google car was being driven by a human.Google says it will study human driving patterns more closely to try to improve the way its cars drive.Driverless cars are touted as being safer and more efficient than those with a human driver. ..

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