Google‘s driver less car to come on roads next year
California took the fast lane to the future on Tuesday when Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that lets self-driving cars onto public roads.Brown rode to the signing ceremony at Google headquarters in the passenger seat of a vehicle that steered itself, a Prius modified by Google. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and State Senator Alex Padilla, who sponsored the bill, were along for the ride. An engineer for the technology company, Chris Urmson, sat in the driver's seat, but the car drove itself.
"We're looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow's reality," Brown said just before signing the bill.
Google has been working on self-driving technology since 2010, including testing a fleet of self-driving cars along California roadways.
Google's driverless cars rely on video cameras, radar sensors, lasers and a database of information collected from manually driven cars to help navigation, according to the company.
The new law goes into effect next year and establishes safety and performance regulations for testing driverless cars, provided an operator is ready to take control if necessary.
However, it will likely take years before a fully self-driving autonomous vehicle hits the road, industry official say.
"I think the self-driving car can really dramatically improve the quality of life," said Brin, who pointed to uses ranging from aiding the blind, ferrying revellers who drank too much, to simply making better use of commuting time.
