Video: Google's self-driven car goes all Herbie on rooftop

As we revealed last year, Google has been testing a series of self-driving Toyota Prius hybrids around California for a while now, clocking up as many as 140,000 computer-controlled miles in the process.

We imagine that most of that distance was covered with the devout concentration of a learner driver on test day, but apparently that doesn't mean that Google's video cameras and radar sensors aren't capable of a more aggressive driving style.

Delegates at this year's TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in the States were given a chance to see another side of the search engine's new kit when one of the car was put round a pre-set course at full pelt.

Click below to see American journalists get excited at the results.