Las Vegas famous for its vast spread deserts, will witness a whole new era in terms of commuting, owing to the new legislation making self-driven cars legal in the state. However, it is only legal to own such car, if it meets all the specifications demonstrated by autonomous cars from Google.
The first of three models applied by Google, a customised Toyota Prius, was awarded a special permit on Tuesday. It became the only fully licensed autonomous car to cruise on the roads of Nevada including the renowned Las Vegas strip.
Director, Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Nevada, Bruce Breslow, quoted, “Autonomous vehicles are the 'Car of the Future'.” Although many concerns were raised about the possibility of accident in case of computer failure, there was no such evidence during numerous testing. In reality, the cars are better driver than humans.
Carson City, the capital of the state, witnessed Brian Sandoval, Governor of state driving the autonomous car on its streets last summer. With its massive billboards and costumed superheroes walking on the crossings to distract the star-struck tourists, Las Vegas was perhaps the better location to test the purpose of such cars.
Breslow commented, "They're designed to avoid distracted driving." He further added, "When you're on the strip and there's a huge truck with three scantily clad women on the side, the car only sees a box."
Utilising the driver less technology developed by Sebastian Thrun, Stanford professor and Google Vice-President, the model can navigate, operate and steer autonomously. However, it still requires the presence of a human on the driver's seat. Thrun quoted in 2007, "No one on Earth can tell me that commuting is fun. It is not recreational driving. It is driving because we have to drive. We could free up that time."
According to him, the self-driven cars are safer than their human counterparts by a huge margin. His statement was based on the fact that these cars comes fully equipped with brakes and accelerators connected to computers, GPS, large database, artificial intelligence systems, and a laser radar (Lidar). He further added, "If you go to a funeral of a person who died because another driver picked up a cell phone and didn't pay attention, it is extremely hard to defend our right to drive where we like."
The self-driven cars in the state will bear an infinity sign on their number plates, which will indicate that the car is not driven by a human. However, two people must be present in the car, one monitoring the screen and other on the driver seat. The driver can override the system by tapping the foot brake or resting his hand on the steering, in case of any glitch.
The neighbourhoods and highways of the Carson City along with famous Las Vegas strip witnessed the extensive testing of the car. Even though, the law legalising these cars was passed last year, it materialised on 1st march.
Google's driver-less cars emerged from projects inside the company, wherein it took part in contests such as the DARPA Urban Challenge. These unique vehicles have already completed 200,000 miles distance without any driver interaction.
Along with Google's home state, California, many other states too are discussing the legislation to legalise self-driven cars. Alex Padilla, senator, California State, while introducing the legislation in the state, said, "The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error. Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analysing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely."
