I met the google-mobile too. I encountered the Astra in Dresden. But street view is not available for Dresden as yet. Probably within the next months.
All you have to do is log on to maps.google.com, search a city and when the little men on the top left of the map is yellow, you can drag it on a street.
The date of the recordings is very different. Here is a 2008 Jeep Liberty in front of the Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas. Thus this must be not too long ago.