Driverless cars tested under real road conditions, at last
by the governor of California, , finally legalizes . Although some countries, such as Finland and the UK (which began and currently have ), already have legislation allowing self-driving vehicles in real traffic, which has enabled , so far in California the fifteen companies authorized to test under real road conditions were obliged to do so with a human driver, and to have a steering wheel and pedals to allow him or her to take control of vehicle in the event of an emergency.
California law is based on the provided by the US (NHTSA), as part of in which . It has widely been considered that , which makes this review . Google seems to have asserted not only its experience in the development of self-driving vehicles, but also its lobbying ability: it has hired up to four former NHTSA officials to explain to their former colleagues its vision for the future of self-driving vehicles, eventually achieving a review some consider timid, certainly opens interesting possibilities for the advancement of the technology involved. Finally, in California, cars can be tested in real traffic in certain specially defined areas, with a top speed of about 56 km/h, with a minimum insurance coverage of five million dollars per vehicle.
In the United States, . Companies like Google already have an important repository of experiences that, so far, included . Now, the company can start testing without the human driver, since, in the words of , director of the self-driving technology unit at Google, “.”
The world’s nations now face a new challenge: to be left behind in the process of adapting laws and highway codes means delaying progress in developing a technology that will not only be a huge opportunity to drastically reduce the number of road accidents, but to completely rethink the way in which we move around, how we transport goods, or even what our cities will look like. Adapting the legislative framework to match the technological progress represented by self-driving vehicles is, at this time, a crucial mission that will define which countries will progress fastest in this area and that aspire to retain a part value it generates.
The dream of , until the director of the Google driverless car initiative, that his son , is nearer than ever.
(En español, )
