Google's 'Driverless' Cars Are Now Legal On Calif. Roads
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Google's self-driving cars will soon be seen on California roads.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Tuesday, officially making Google's cars legal to drive on the street.
The company's "driverless" cars have computers controlling the pedals and steering wheels, which are guided by cameras, GPS systems and other sensors.
It is required that there is a "backup" driver behind the wheel at all times to monitor the software and to take over if needed.
Representatives of the company tested these cars in California in Oct. 2010, saying the goal of this technology is to reduce carbon emissions, prevent traffic accidents and free up people's time.
"According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. We believe our technology has the potential to cut that number, perhaps by as much as half. We're also confident that self-driving cars will transform car sharing, significantly reducing car usage, as well as help create the new "highway trains of tomorrow." These highway trains should cut energy consumption while also increasing the number of people that can be transported on our major roads," project leader Sebastian Thrun wrote on Google's corporate blog on Oct. 9, 2010.
