Self driven cars likely to be on road by 2020

London: American conglomerate Google has revealed that self-driven cars will be on roads within five years.

The Globe and Mail quoted Chris Urmson, director of self-driving cars, as saying, "We've made some pretty exciting progress, and at this point, we're pretty convinced this technology is going to come to market."

Google's car - a prototype electric pod revealed in December, will have no steering wheel or conventional controls, although for early testing, extra controls will be fitted so one of Google's test drivers can take over if there is a problem.

Google's retrofitted self-driven cars have undergone extensive testing, racking up more than 700,000 miles on the road, and in 2013 were given to one hundred employees to test.

The BBC quoted Urmson, as saying, "The fact that people are driving more and getting stuck in traffic jams for longer were two other good reasons to roll the technology out as soon as possible."

Urmson also said that self-driven cars could drastically reduce traffic accidents.

Urmson pointed out that some 1.2 million people are killed on roads around the world each year. That number is equivalent to a 737 jet falling out of the sky every day.

Urmson was also quoted as saying, "That is not to say that driver-assistance cars won't be useful but if we are really going to make changes to our cities, get rid of parking lots, we need self-drive cars."