Google Koala’s Wipers Are On Its Eyes

 Google has been working on Android integrated automobile since Google I/O last year, introducing Android Auto this year in its conference. The company’s self-driving cars by the name of Koala will now be displayed at Thinkery Children’s Museum in Austin, Texas.

The company’s spokesman on Monday gave a statement to Mashable that its automated car does not require windshield vipers because it does not need them. Interestingly, it does not require a brake pedal, steering wheel or the accelerator pedal, as the car sensor essentially do all the work.

Google wrote in its blog post that Koala car received a lot of names by the kids at the museum; some of them being an owl, an ant, a rock with a face and a computer mouse. However, the company found “the future” to be the most interesting name given to the car.

The company also wrote in the blog post that the wipers of Koala are not on the windshield but in fact are on the headlight sensors, “the eye” to the sensor do not face any obstruction. When Google asked the invitees about the best possible feature of the car, the most popular answer pertained to “eating tacos” and “reading.” Therefore, the company was able to get more hype about its new self-driven car.

However, the news about Google Koala not having windshield wipers has gotten more hype than it should have. The concept of a self-driven car implied that user control is taken away and thus the same would apply to the windshield wipers. The reason why this news has gotten more hype pertains to the limitation in user’s vision, which may add to insecurity to the user experience.

A number of prototypes are expected to be brought to Austin to be tested on the roads. Google had initially planned to test out its self-driven cars in various terrains of Austin such as Calif and Mountain View.

According to Google's blog post, the Koala car would be tested out in downtown Austin, where the search giant would be collecting feedback from the local population.