2017 could be the year that we all will get Google's driverless cars. There is hope and anticipation from Google's technological experts, but there is also some skepticism, and even competition.

Project Director of Google's driverless cars Chris Urmson stated in a post that the company is optimistic toward achieving its goal of having a vehicle that operates fully without human intervention. Once this happens, Urmson claims that there would be benefits such as less accidents, simply because machines can operate more safely than people. Urmson's communication has been the first official update since 2012. The driverless cars have been part of the secretive Google X lab, ABC News reported.

However, in previous models, if the computer failed, human drivers would be expected to control it. Google's promise and perhaps premise is that no one would need a driver or a car service, so passengers could read, sleep or work while the car drives itself, so to speak. 

These new driverless cars, Google says, have started to master the navigation of city streets and its challenges such as jay walkers and weaving bicyclists. This is perhaps a milestone for any available self driving car technology, ABC News reported.

The driverless cars are made up of a fleet of Lexus SUVs, and they are all retrofitted with lasers, radar and cameras. The sensors, along with the radar and lasers, create 3D maps of the self-driving car's surroundings in real-time, while Google's software sorts objects into four categories: including moving vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and static objects such as signs, sidewalks, curbs and parked cars, ABC News reported. At first, the car's capabilities was fairly inaccurate. For example, it registered a group of pedestrians on a street corner as a single person.

The Lexus fleet, however, has completed 700,000 accident-free miles (1.1 million km) on highways. Google predicts that the public could grasp hold of the technology as soon as in three years, the Daily Mail reported. The ground work and the basics have been laid out Google claims.

The skeptics say just stop at the red light for a minute. David Alexander, a senior analyst with Navigant Research who specializes in autonomous vehicles, or robotic controlled vehicles, thinks that Google's technology is doing great things, however, Alexander does not see the speedy way to this particular driverless market. Alexander's projection is that self-driving cars will not be commercially viable and available until 2025, the Daily Mail reported.

Besides the fact the Google is fast tracking their driverless cars, Volvo just launched theirs too, but it is in Sweden. Volvo has already begun testing its self-driving cars on public roads; the Swedish car manufacturer is hoping that they will be the world's large-scale fleet of autonomous vehicles.

Similarly to Google's driverless cars, Volvo has tested it on roads around Gothenburg, Sweden. This was part of the company's "Drive Me" project, announced last December, Yahoo! Tech reported. One Volvo expert stated that the test cars can now handle lane following, speed adaptation and merging with traffic, all autonomously. Volvo refers to their technology as "Autopilot," it allows drivers to hand over all driving functions to the on-board computer, according to Yahoo! Tech.

The thing is, Google driverless cars are going to happen; legislation has already been enacted. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is already in the process of writing regulations to implement it. States so far, such as Nevada, Florida, Michigan and Washington, D.C., have all written for driverless car laws, the Daily Mail reported.  

Buckle up, Google users.