Driver-less cars given green light to hit Nevada roads

Futuristic driver-less cars have been approved for use on Nevada roads according to reports out this week.

According to Forbes magazine, the State of Nevada has just passed a bill which authorises the Department of Transport to develop regulations and rules governing the use of driver-less cars on its roads. The bill relates to any vehicles which use global positioning systems, artificial intelligence and sensors to drive 'without the intervention of a human operator.'

When the bill goes into effect on 1st March 2012, state officials will need to work out insurance guidelines, car certification standards and rules regarding the use of robotic cars. They will also need to work out where driver-less cars will be allowed to be used within the state. Nevada is the first state to approve the use of such vehicles so it's thought the rules and regulations they bring into force will come under close scrutiny.

While the news doesn't mean that driver-less cars will get the thumbs up to operate on state roadways, it does mean that from next year Google's exciting concept autonomous car could be cruising the streets of Nevada without a driver.
 
The search engine has been busy designing and developing a new 'automated car' over the last couple of years which has already clocked around 140,000 miles in the Bay Area (with engineers in the front seat). The car has been designed to navigate traffic using Google's vast data centres - something which the company claim will make it safer than other standard models currently on the market.

And it seems Google isn't alone in the driver-less car market. German brand Volkswagen have also confirmed that they are working on a 'temporary autopilot' system that would allow drivers to operate their vehicles mostly 'hands-off' on highways.