The First Licensed Driver-less Car

Feb 2014

The self- driving car, a car that drives without a driver, can be seen in the streets of Navada since the state approved Americas first self-driven vehicle license.
Google’s autonomous cars will be allowed onto public highways after Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has issued the first license plates that will be placed onto a modified Toyota Prius and sent out by search firm Google, which is leading the way in driver-less car technology.
A Greek infinity symbol will be placed on the number plate next to the number 001 to alert other drivers that a computer has control of the vehicle California are planning similar changes, the licence plate will be red. Hiring the top talents in the field took part in the DARPA Grand and Urban Challenge so that Nevada can be the first state to devise licensing procedures for autonomous vehicles.
The car uses cameras which are mounted on the roof with radar senses and laser range finders to “see” other traffic. The car has been previously tested in the streets of California by Google engineers, by crossing the famous San Francisco Gold Gate Bridge. While testing, the car was manned. If the software failed the driver could take control of the vehicle. Sebastian Thrun, the software engineer, states that the car has covered 140,000 miles with no accidents, except a car driving into it from behind.

Experts opinion

Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles  director, Bruce Breslow, says that driver-less vehicles are the cars of the future. March of 2014 the law will be passed and put in place so that the driver-less cars can take the roads. The long term goal is to sell these type of cars to the public.
“The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error,” said California state Senator Alex Padilla, when he introduced the legislation.
“Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analyzing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely.”