Car that drives ITSELF is just a few years away

Internet giant Google is secretly developing a car that can drive itself, using artificial intelligence, a report says.

Seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 1,40,000 miles with only occasional human control, The New York Times reported.

The car project of Google uses artificial intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimics the decisions made by a human driver.

The device atop the car produces a detailed map of the environment which is used to navigate safely.

One test car drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the United States.

Lone accident:The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.Autonomous cars are years from mass production, but technologists, who have long dreamed of them, believe that they can transform society as profoundly as the Internet has.

Robot drivers react faster than humans, have 360-degree perception and do not get distracted, sleepy or intoxicated, the engineers argue.They say the technology could double the capacity of roads by allowing cars to drive more safely while closer together. Because the robot cars would eventually be less likely to crash, they could be built lighter, reducing fuel consumption. The car can be programmed for different driving personalities.

The project is the brainchild of Sebastian Thrun, the 43-year-old director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a Google engineer and the co-inventor of the Street View mapping service.

Google is using six Priuses and an Audi TT in the project.Google researchers said the company did not yet have a clear plan to create a business