Google’s self-driving cars to hit roads this summer, will have steering wheels and brakes

Google Inc will begin testing self-driving cars of its own design on public roads this summer, but they will have steering wheels and brakes, which is not what the company described a year ago.

Engineers will operate 25 prototype vehicles, which use the same software as Google’s self-driving Lexus RX450h sport utility vehicles that have been in operation for several years, the company said on Friday.

When the Internet search company announced a year ago that it planned to build a fleet of self-driving cars, project director Chris Urmson said the prototypes “won’t have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal or brake pedal … because they don’t need them.”