Mountain View, California

GOOGLE'S self-driving vehicles are mastering complex situations on public roads, from cars going the wrong way to bicycles darting in front of traffic, as the technology company strives to win the high-profile race to achieve full vehicle automation, executives said on Wednesday.

The Alphabet Inc unit, which has been developing autonomous cars since 2009, said its self-driving vehicles had logged 3.2 million kilometres on public roads, and it continues to log about 40,000 kilometres of test drives per week.