Google has been hard at work at developing self-driving cars, but it now looks like the company will need to wait before software is truly in the driver's seat.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles this week issued new rules that say a driver must be capable of "immediate physical control" of a vehicle. So, the search giant's prototype cars for now will include steering wheels and a brake pedal system.
Google in May unveiled its own built-from-scratch car model -- a tiny two-seater with a front exterior that resembles a cartoon smiley face. But the vehicle was notably missing the physical controls for the driver, in favor of buttons that controlled the software.
Related Stories Google unveils self-driving car, sans steering wheel Google's self-driving car turns out to be a very smart ride Google claims big progress in self-driving cars' street smartsThe company said it would comply with the state's regulations, which will go into effect in mid-September. "With these additions, our safety drivers can test the self-driving features, while having the ability to take control of the vehicle if necessary," a Google spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal. The company did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
Testing on public roads will begin next month, in prototypes that will include a steering wheel and pedals, the Journal said.
Google's self-driving car initiatives is just one of the company's more out-there projects, which Google likes to call "moon shots." Other projects coming from the company's experimental division, called Google X, include the head-mounted device Google Glass, and a project called Loon, which aims to bring Wi-Fi to unconnected regions via high-altitude balloons. The company has publicly been working on the cars since 2010.
When Google co-founder Sergey Brin unveiled the prototypes in May, he said the goal of the project is for self-driving cars to be "significantly" safer than human-driven cars in a few years. The cars only operate at speeds of 25 miles per hour, to be able to quickly maneuver obstacles. Brin said at the time that the vehicle hadn't crashed at all during testing.
According to the Journal, the California DMV also set other rules for driverless vehicles. Ron Medford, director of safety for Google's car project, asked the department about testing other types of vehicles, like motorcycles and trucks. The department declined, saying it wanted to first take "baby steps" with the technology.
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