Google’s Newest Self-Driving Car

Routine car maintenance is important no matter what kind of car you drive, but it might be even more important for a car that drives itself. Google has already announced a self driving car in the past, but now the company has come out with a newer version that’s smaller and relies on humans even less than before.

The Newer And Smaller Car

If you happen to be around Google’s headquarters, you’ll likely see a smaller version of the automated Google driverless car. This version only requires one human driver (in case of an emergency situation), and comes with a detachable steering wheel, brake pedal, and gas pedal. The Department of Transportation in California has allowed Google to put the car on the road with other cars, but not until the company thoroughly tested the new automobile.

Google claims that the car has been fully tested and is safe, so you may start to see the tiny car on roads in some states where self-driving cars are now allowed. Those states include California, Nevada, Michigan, and Florida. Before any DOT will allow any self-driving car on the road with other cars, these cars have to be thoroughly tested, which is what Google claims the company has been doing over the past few years. Google is investing a lot of money into the self-driving market, and the newest Google car just proves further that the company really believes the future of cars is in self-driving.

Maintaining A Self Driving Car

Maintenance on a car that drives itself is a bit tricker than maintaining a regular driver powered automobile. Since everything on the car is automatic, the car notifies the driver (or whoever is keeping an eye on the car) when something goes wrong. But just like any other car, a driverless car has to be brought into a garage for routine maintenance. Just because a car doesn’t require a driver doesn’t mean that the car doesn’t require road safety maintenance – a point that the DOT has made very clear

In fact, since these cars are the newest automobiles to hit the market, safety is an even bigger concern with the DOT. More than other cars, these cars have to be prove safe. Google’s newest car only requires one safety driver whereas the older Google automated cars required two people to operate the car in case of an emergency. Clearly, Google has come very far from that original automated option.

Another Issue

One of the bigger problems that manufacturers of self-driving cars face is that roads must be maintained properly and pristinely for self-driving cars to function properly. These cars rely on routes that are well maintained, and cannot function on roads that do not have a decent structure or are not taken care of. This is an issue since many states do not have the budget to maintain roads. So for now, these self-driving cars have to stay in places where routes are clear and free of any trouble, which means limiting where these cars can travel.

Your Car Maintenance

We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don’t have a self-driving car, but you still need routine car maintenance, right? Bring your car into Fort Collins Foreign Car Service today for a tune-up or to fix any car repair problems that you are experiencing. Don’t let our name fool you either – we service both foreign and domestic cars of all kinds! Plus, we’ve been in business for many years now, so you can trust our team to do the best job at the right price. Call us today to book!