A few select drivers in Nevada will soon be allowed to sit back and let their cars do all the driving.

 

With the encouragement of Google, the state has become the first to approve the use of robot-driven cars on its roadways beginning March 1. The program will allow companies to operate the specially-designed cars on streets and highways, as long as each vehicle has two human drivers on board in the event something goes wrong with the automatic controls.

 

The cars will be equipped with radar, sensors and computers that allow the vehicles to drive themselves.

 

The only way to tell the robot vehicles will be the license plates, which will be red during the test phase and eventually neon green if all goes well and the program becomes permanent.

 

Google has already been using robotic Prius cars in California “quasi-legally,” according to Singularity Hub, logging about 200,000 miles with them.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Starting March 1st, A Red License Plate in Nevada Means the Driver is a Robot! (by Aaron Saenz, Singularity Hub)

Driverless Cars Can Be Licensed In Nevada (by Susan Berfield, San Francisco Chronicle)