Driverless cars road legal in Nevada

With technology that is advancing at a speed pretty much as fast as the Bugatti Veyron or maybe even more, we wonder what the future of the automotive sector will be like. The Google Driverless car is a project that reflects the tomorrow of automobile industry and is exactly as it sounds. It makes use of information gathered from Google Street view and artificial intelligence software in combination with video cameras and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors on top, radar sensors at the front and position sensors at the rear of vehicles.

As of 2010, Google had already stated testing the vehicles fitted with the system extensively by driving (if one could call it that) the vehicle without human intervention for nearly 1600km and testing for more than 2,25,000km with minor human interventions. 

Last year, Nevada State in the US passed a law that authorised use of driverless cars but it is only now that the regulations concerning it have finally been given a green flag, With that, Nevada has become the first state in the world to approve driverless cars and make them road legal. The law gives car manufacturers the liberty to test these vehicles to the fullest provided they meet two conditions – first, a person will be required to take over as operator in case of a technical failure and secondly, the vehicles should be tested on Nevada’s public roadways.

Google is just one of the many players that are experimenting with driverless cars. General Motors and BMW also have driverless vehicles that are being tested. In fact, BMW even tested their car on the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Circuit in California. One thing can be said for sure, the future of the industry is bright, and don’t be surprised if in years to come you see a car next to yours that isn’t driven by anyone!