Driverless Cars of the Future Coming to Cali
What’s the Latest Development?
How you ever driven down the street and looked at a passing car that seemed to have no driver? In the past, there was probably someone hunched over looking for a dropped french fry or a very short driver that was hard to see. But now in California, the legislature has passed a bill that will allow for autonomous vehicles, or cars that are driven by the machines themselves, to potentially hit the roads by 2015. “California is now the second state to enact autonomous vehicle legislation, following another Google-championed bill that passed in Nevada last February.”
What’s the Big Idea?
Automakers from around the world have been working on incorporating aspects of autonomous driving into their cars, but the practice itself has been largely illegal throughout the United States. In California, researchers tested Toyota, Lexus, Audi, and Volkswagen vehicles and other car companies have been working on “different forms of driver assistance that takes control of the vehicle at low speeds, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Volvo and Cadillac.” Although this is a huge first step to driverless cars, the California bill still demands that “a licensed driver is required to be behind the wheel if something goes awry.”
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