Google is working on building a fleet of electric-powered self-driving cars which it hopes to start testing by the end of the year.
The company wants to get 100 to 200 prototypes on public roads by this time next year, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The vehicles are a natural next step for the internet search browser company, which has already driven hundreds of thousands of miles in California with Toyota Priuses and Lexus SUVs outfitted with a number of self-driving features.
"What I'm excited about is how we could change transportation today," Brin said, according to USA Today. "If you look at people who are too old, too young, or disabled, and can't get around, that's a big challenge for them."
Vehicles have no steering wheel, brake, or gas pedals, according to Brin. They do come equipped with sensors and software designed to help prevent accidents. Buttons can be found inside the vehicle that drivers can push to start or stop the car in the event of an emergency.
Currently, vehicles can't go faster than 25 mph.
"It reminded me of catching a chairlift by yourself, a bit of solitude I found really enjoyable," Brin said during a Southern California tech conference on May 27 regarding his first ride, according to the Associated Press.
The electric-powered vehicle is compact and shaped like a bubble, which the company believes could come in handy when trying to commute in congested traffic of around a corporate campus.
Google hopes to produce 100 prototypes by 2015 and use them in a "pilot program," company spokeswoman Courtney Hohne said, according to the Associated Press.
Brin said he's hopeful regulators will eventually agree to allow the vehicles to operate without a driver.
By the end of 2014, California's Department of Motor Vehicles will write regulations for the "operational" use of driverless vehicles.
Rules aren't already set in place because the DMV thought the reality of driverless vehicles was still several years away, according to the Associated Press.
"Because of what is potentially out there soon, we need to make sure that the regulations are in place that would keep the public safe but would not impede progress," said the head of the DMV's driverless car program, Bernard Soriano, according to AP.
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