Sebastien Thurn is the man behind the magic of Google’s DARPA Challenge-winning driverless car tech developed at Stanford University, and Thurn thinks that his tech not only will save human lives, but also eliminate traffic congestions.

If you think that this driverless tech is some gimmick, well Thurn’s footage of a driverless Toyota Prius is nothing short of incredible, showing the cars successfully navigating deserts, highways and city streets clogged with traffic and pedestrians. So far, the driverless car’s most impressive journey has been from San Francisco to Los Angeles down Highway One. All these are done with no hands on.

But city and highway driving is just the icing of the actual cake. Know what Google driverless cars can do? Well, the driverless Prius and a driverless Volkswagen Passat successfully navigating an autocross-style cones course, proving these cars can handle a wide range of driving styles. The cars function by employing a series of sensors to detect their environment, and use a computer program to respond to what’s going on around them.

Thurn was on hand at this year’s TED Conference to discuss the idea and show footage from 140,000 miles of driverless car tests conducted by Stanford. The TED Conference serves as a forum for innovative ideas, publishing video seminars and ideas year round, and hosting two in-person conferences per year. The foundation has been holding conferences and publishing content on a creative commons license since 1990.
If you were to pass by any Toyota Prius in town, do check if there’s any human in it.