Google driverless car almost legal in Nevada

By Brett Davis | May 12th, 2011

Google has hired a lobbyist to pitch two new bills to Nevada’s state Legislature which could see driverless cars become legal in the state. If the bills pass, Nevada will be the first state in the world where driverless cars are legal.

The two bills include one that will allow the licensing and testing of autonomous cars, while the other, interestingly, will be an exemption to the text-while-driving legislation. As users of the Google car are not technically driving it, talking or texting on your mobile isn’t really regarded unsafe.

Sebastian Thrun, one of the Google car creators, has already provided a sizeable argument which claims that driverless cars, if put into practice, could save millions of lives out on the roads. He also says the cars could potentially free up traffic problems, giving motorists some of their time back.

Using roof-mounted cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder, the Google autonomous car has already been tested in the US, and has covered more than 225,000km. The car is able to calculate sudden traffic changes, read extremely narrow mountain roads at night, and even integrate with pedestrians and avoid accidents.

A decision is expected to be reached about the possible legislation changes before the Legislature’s session ends in June. We’ll keep you updated.

toxic_horse

sounds great. i wonder if the CEO of google would be happy to push has baby in a pram across a crossing in front of one of these.
save it for the track

The question would be has it been tested in absolutely every conceivable weather situation, like fog, smoke, hail, heavy rain etc. ? All situations that can affect the range and effectiveness of lasers for example. And what is the back-up if it suffers some sort of electrical malfunction? I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable having a car do all the driving. Public space is an incontrolled environment, and having a guidance system in a car has far more variables than an auto pilot in a plane.
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I don’t see it coming to Aus anytime soon.
Mikey

Well that Car Probably has better driving skills than alot of people on the road!!

Leyianart

Better than every Auto Driver!

too many variables and risks to control

i like the whole idea of getting your time back on various journeys by letting the car drive itself.. but i would never trust technology in place of a brain in such a volatile environment. Even if my reaction speeds were not as quick or as calculated as a computer – the fact that your not in control is enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

Autopilot on a plane works because there aren’t many planes in the same space and time, you also have people dedicated to tracking the planes routes and looking out for incoming traffic. Do the same for a car in a far more complex environment and the variables are too hard to control. Maybe not in this day and age at least.

Nikil

Change is always difficult. But this change is inevitable, because the number of advantages overcomes the disadvantages.
It is probable that the accident rates could drastically fall with automated driverless cars.

Its like a human brain vs a computer in a game of chess.
Machines are better off doing these things.

Thorne

Actually the CEO would more than likely be happy to. The sensors see in every direction and have a virtually intaneous response time.

Less likely to get run over than by a car driven by a person.
No falling asleep behind the wheel, no drunk drivers, no old men in hats doing 50Km in a 100km zone. No roadside tax collectors.

Sure there might be a hardware failure at which the failover system will pull the vehicle over safely and shutdown. Even with a total failure resulting in death, the number of deaths will much much lower. How many fatal accidents now are due to mechanical failure as opposed to driver errors?

The only problem I can see is what the government will do to make up for the loss of fines proping up their budgets.

Evanangel

But what if the pram was coming from right in front of it? Say it’s in a busy and built up area and has no way of moving to the side or reversing to avoid the pram, even if braked, the pram would still ram into the car – the car wouldn’t be able to prevent the accident. Maybe they should include a front bumper airbag…? Lol

Cam

ok, how would a human driver fare any better in that situation? What you describe is actually pedestrian error, you might as well ask how would a driverless car prevent a suicidal person throwing themselves under the wheels?

RoFlmaTiC

For anyone except google, a driverless car is about as useful as a solar powered torch.

MattW

Sounds like you aren’t smart enough to put the torch out in the sun during the day to charge the batteries for when you need it at night

Supes

one step closer to KnightRider, awesome!! now we just need the Hoff.

MattW

Just don’t let him sing

Des

Does the Google car knows it’s a Toyota and have they figured out what the computer will do if it has an uncommanded acceleration.
Happy Dude

Would b awesome getting blind drunk at the pub then letting “the car” drive u home…
UMWHAT

cool, so if i wanted to travel to a different state I’d just put the address in, take a pillow, food/drinks and a portable dvd player and just lay back in chill on the back seats?
Kieran

I’d like to quote Clarkson here, if I may…

“… this has been invented by a brilliant man, but five years down the line, it’s going to be bought by someone called Keith. Keith is going to wake up one day and think he can service it himself, which means you won’t be able to relax… because you’ll be sitting there, thinking to yourself, ‘I know that someone called Keith… is coming the other way, and there’s going to be a horrible accident’”
Senna “S’s”

The ball is already rolling, cars with adaptive cruise control (able to bring the car to a complete stop). Self parking,Lane Assist and Automatic Distance Control. They’re probably already working on cruise with auto steering .
How soon will auto pilot be on the options list??…
Moe

Better than asian drivers ( not trying to be racist ) just kidding around

MattW

Sterotypes start for a reason. I’ve nearly been run into 5 times the last few weeks since the students have come back, and each time was an asian student with big dangly thing hanging from the rear view mirror, deathgrip on the steering, staring straight ahead and oblivious to anything 5 degrees to the side of straightahead.