Google's self-driving car soaks in a staggering amount of information about its environment as it drives, gathering 750MB of data every second, claims Idealab founder and CEO Bill Gross.

Gross, who says he learned the fact and taken the image above at an XPrize event, says the car is capturing everything it sees while moving — even cigarette butts.

"If it sees a cigarette butt, it knows a person might be creeping out from between cars. If it sees a rolling ball it knows a child might run out from a driveway. I am truly stunned by how impressive an achievement this is," wrote Gross in a blog post.

Google's Self-Driving Car gathers almost 1 GB per SECOND. Here's what it "sees" making a left turn: twitter.com/Bill_Gross/sta… — Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) April 30, 2013

In August 2012, Google said its driverless vehicles have completed more than 300,000 miles of testing without a single accident under computer control. Still, the technology that makes the self-driving car tick, while impressive, has a long way to go.

"To provide the best experience we can, we’ll need to master snow-covered roadways, interpret temporary construction signals and handle other tricky situations that many drivers encounter," wrote Google Engineering Lead Chris Umson in a blog post.

Image courtesy of Bill Gross