The team behind Google's self-driving car project claim that the robots inside will break the speed limit to keep up with surrounding traffic, according to a report from Reuters.
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If cars around an autonomous vehicle are all speeding, Google's software will speed by as much as 10 miles per hour to keep up--a move its research says is safer. While the vehicles are programmed to normally stay within the posted legal maximum, the engineers opt for better passenger safety over complete legality.
With the mainstream media and general public being vaguely reluctant to embrace computer chauffeurs, Google over and over again pushes how safe an autonomous vehicle is compared to non-programed, and often stupid humans.
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Computers don't get tired, computers don't text, computers don't need to do their makeup while flying down the freeway. And now, computers will be break the law if the situation demands it.
"Thousands and thousands of people are killed in car accidents every year. This could change that," Dmitri Dolgov, the project's lead software engineer, told Reuters.
Dolgov (Russian-born but now an American citizen) also gave a few personal details that show a sharp contrast of how different Google is from the average automobile designer, such as the fact that he drives a Subaru and doesn't say things like "horsepower."
Of course, now the question is if Google will pay your speeding ticket.
