Sergio's text on

Google Driveless car project

Google's driverless car project was officially launched in 2010. Since then it says its test vehicles have completed more than a million kilometres on public roads. They've progressed from relatively simple driving on the Californian freeway to more complicated manoeuvring in urban areas.


So far, Google has used a fleet of ordinary cars, which have been converted to carry self-driving technology. But now it wants to take the process a stage further by producing a purpose-built machine. It’s planning to create a fleet of about a hundred fully autonomous electric vehicles capable of carrying two people at up to 40 km per hour without any input from a human driver.


The ultimate aim is to get rid of the controls altogether, although early versions will still need to have a steering wheel and pedals.


Google believes it will be able to launch a pilot scheme using the new cars within the next two years. But the internet giant is far from being the only company working on self-driving technology. A number of major manufacturers have their own test programmes, among them Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW.


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1)TRUE OR FALSE.


a)Google's driverless car have been tested on the Californian freeway only.


b)Google is planning to create a fleet os two hundred fully autonomous electric vehicles.



2)OPEN QUESTIONS.


a)Is Google the only company working on self-driving technology? (Long answer).


b)When did Google launch this car project?



3)SYNONYMS


a)Enormous (P.4):


b)Main (p.3):


c)Plan (p.1):


c)Common (p.1)