Google autonomous driving technology detailed [video]

Sebastien Thurn has revealed some interesting new footage of Google's autonomous driving system.

Speaking at TED Talks, Thurn says he lost his best friend to a car accident and has dedicated his life to saving one million people a year with autonomous driving technology. After watching others try and fail, Thurn and his team at Stanford University created a new software program which "learns" from experience.

After successfully demonstrating the system at the 2005 DARPA challenge, Thurn teamed up with Google to further develop the technology. To date, the test cars have driven over 140,000 miles (225,308 km) in a variety of conditions because they can "see everything around them and make decisions about every aspect of driving."

While the technology is still several years, if not decades, away from mainstream adoption, Thurn envisions a day when we look back and think "how ridiculous it was that humans were driving cars."