Google is committing a lot of money and people to its self-driving project in the hope that within five years every automotive manufacturer will be utilizing the platform in cars all across the globe.

To win over the automotive companies, Google first needs to make self-driving cars legal in every part of the world by showing their safety and reliability.

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For Chris Urmson, the director of self-driving cars at Google, it's a race to the finish line. Urmson has an 11 year-old son and never wants him to take a driver's test. He hopes by 2020, the self-driving car will be standard.

Even if self-driving cars do become standard, this doesn't mean Urmson's son will get a car without passing a test since many regulatory offices still believe the rider should be able to control the car if the system fails.

Google is hopeful opinions will change once self-driving reaches a level above and beyond what humans can achieve, potentially forcing regulatory offices to ban humans from driving cars in case of accidents.

This is an issue Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk alluded to in a recent interview. Musk claims once systems are intelligent enough, human drivers will be too dangerous to have on the road.

For some -- especially those that love to drive -- this is a major worry. Google sees it as progress, but many see it as a removal of yet another freedom.

TagsSelf-Driving Car, automotive industry