Google’s self-driving cars set to cruise into Washington State later this month

Google is expanding its roster of test locations for its self-driving car program, and Kirkland in Washington State will be its next live testbed starting later this month.

The city is the third for Google to test in, and will provide a different driving environment and road patterns to challenge the cars, according to Reuters. It’s far wetter than California or Texas, that’s for sure.

Its existing tests in California and Texas have racked up over 1.4 million miles on public roads, and circle the equator five times per hour in virtual tests.

In all of those miles on the public roads, the self-driving element failed 272 times and had 13 near misses as a result.

The locations of the final two test cities haven’t yet been revealed.

➤ Google expands self-driving car testing to Washington State [Reuters]