Cars that use technology to drive themselves have been talked about for several decades, but until now have only seemed to be a far-off dream.  Now Google has revealed that they have cars with automated driving capabilities in development.  Google has combined a camera, numerous sensors with a preprogrammed GPS system on Toyota Prius vehicles and already is performing testing.  The cars have obeyed the speed limit and follow the programmed route without a hitch.  Thousands of miles have been logged by the self-driving cars in real traffic.  Although human drivers are behind the wheel, ready to take over in case of emergency, so far they haven’t had to intervene.

Read more about Google’s self-driving cars in this New York Times article.

Ceatec, Japan’s largest annual electronics show, has just wrapped up for another year.  One of the most popular exhibitors at Ceatec in recent years is Murata, a sensor company that creates small robots to showcase its latest ultrasonic sensor technology.  This year they brought Murata Girl, a unicycling robot that maneuvers the curves of an s-shaped course, and Murata Boy, who rides a bicycle up an inclined track. 

See Murata’s robots in action in this YouTube video: 

If you want to find out more about Ceatec, read about PCWorld’s Ten Gadget Picks of Ceatec 2010.

It goes without saying that the people of Japan love robots.  At a recent Google Developer Day event, the Android Droid Robot was a popular attraction.