4 November 2015 Last updated at 20:34 GMT
The team working on the project at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab are making their algorithm open source so that others can use and adapt it.
One of the developers, Andrew Barry, told the BBC he believed the technology could appear within commercial products within two years.

"Ma Kali", as she is popularly known, is the Hindu goddess of destruction.
Since it was uploaded a day ago, the Instagram post has received more than 11,000 comments, most of them abusive and by Indians.
Many called for her to take down the picture. Perry has not responded to the comments and has left the image as is.
The image she has used is commonly found on calendars and posters in India.
Although some of her fans have tried jumping to her defence, they are far outnumbered by angry and emotional Indians.
Indians tweet 'Who is Maria Sharapova?'
Amazon sorry over India flag fiasco
Perry is not the first international celebrity to offend Indian sensibilities online.
Tennis star Maria Sharapova was mercilessly trolled for not knowing who cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was and Hollywood actor Richard Gere had a police case registered against him for kissing actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek.
More recently, online retail giant Amazon got into trouble for retailing doormats with the Indian flag emblazoned on them. The company was forced to apologise after India's foreign minister threatened action.

The 5.5in (14cm) component packs in 806 pixels per inch.
That outclasses Samsung's new flagship model by a wide margin. The Galaxy S6 offers 577ppi on a slightly smaller display.
Higher resolutions offer more detail, typically producing crisper images and text. But experts say there is a limit to what the human eye can appreciate.
"At a certain point, the improvements get less visually stunning," Tim Coulling from the Canalys tech consultancy told the BBC.
"Once you jump from 2K to 4K, you're going to struggle to tell the two images apart even if you have perfect vision."
4K - which is also known as ultra-high definition - offers four times the resolution of 1080p HD.
Several TV and projector manufacturers are promoting the new format as being ideal for 55in or bigger televisions that families can sit close to, and cinema screens.
One challenge with introducing it to a handset is that higher resolutions typically take a greater toll on battery life.
But Sharp promotes the Igzo (Indium gallium zinc oxide) tech used in the displays as being more energy efficient than the silicon-based LCD screens commonly used in smartphones and tablets, which should help offset their power demands.
With smartphones becoming capable of filming in 4K, Mr Coulling also suggested there would be an energy trade-off that could benefit users watching back such videos.
"You will be able to show 4K content natively on the screen, which means you won't need to process it to get it to display properly."
He added that he believed smartphone-makers would be keen to promote their handsets as being 4K-enhanced, whatever the true benefit, for marketing reasons.
Greek news site Techblog.gr - which was among the first to report the news - said that Sharp planned to put the displays into mass production next year, and expected Chinese manufacturers to be among its first customers.
While consumers have still to get to grips with 4K, parts of the tech industry are already racing ahead to a next-generation standard.
Camera-maker Red has just announced an 8K video camera, offering 16 times the resolution of 1080p HD.
However, its $59,500 (Â£40,575) cost is likely to limit its appeal to film-makers.
Researchers in the US are teaching high-speed drones how to avoid obstacles in their flight path with very little notice.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Pop star Katy Perry is facing the wrath of Indians online after uploading an image of the Hindu goddess Kali with the caption "current mood".
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Japan's Sharp has announced the first smartphone screen capable of showing images in 4K resolution.