Photo: Google

When I was a kid, one of my favourite movies was Sleeper, where the characters rode around in driverless cars and used giant strawberries as weapons. Sleeper came out in 1973 - these days, 40 years later, giant strawberries seem a way off, but the driverless car is closer than ever.

As we noted in our post Letting Your Car Do the Driving, driver-assist technologies are becoming more and more common in today's vehicles. But the innovative folks at Google have been taking things to the next level. This article from the Globe and Mail details how, after years of highway testing (where driving is more predictable), Google is now testing a driverless car on busy city streets.

Take a look at this video of a Google driverless car navigating the streets of Mountainview, California to see what they've achieved.

I love the science fiction feel of the driverless car…and who wouldn't like to knit or do the crossword as your car drives you to work in the morning? On the other hand, while the creators of driverless cars claim that they would make the roads safer, giving up control of the vehicle is…uncomfortable (especially for folks who suffer from amaxaphobia). And some drivers say they'd be worried about technical difficulties, such as the ability of hackers to take over the car's software and cause accidents.

What do you think? Do you feel ready for a future of driverless cars? Take our poll below!