Earlier this week, ABC News got the chance to go for a spin in one of the tech company’s automated cars, riding shotgun in a computer-controlled Toyota Prius.

The engineers from Google explain that the Prius utilizes a series of cameras and a roof-mounted, spinning laser to see what is going on around it. The result is a vehicle which might just be safer than one with a human behind the wheel. However, according to the report, the goal of the system is not to completely remove the driver from the equation, the system is pitched as more of a “super cruise-control” than a full auto-drive system. The theory is that it would be useful for traffic-filled commutes to and from work, and it might be a nice solution to eliminate or reduce distracted-driving. Get a phone call? Hit the Google button and let the car have the wheel while you take your call.

Becky Worley, the news correspondent in the video clip, even gets up the guts to give the Google car a real-life brake test. She steps in front of it as it’s motoring down the road. What happens? The car “sees” her and slams on the binders.

Words by Jeff Glucker