Autonomous Cars Are Coming

"Look Ma, No hands!"

During the past few months Nevada, Florida and California have all legalized driver-less cars, and Washington D.C has been considering whether to follow suit.

As with California’s recently enacted law, the Districts’ bill would require that a licensed driver be present in the driver’s seat of these vehicles. While this is a big step for the cause of autonomous vehicles, it will greatly restrict some of the more promising functions of the driver-less technology that would allow those with disabilities to be able to enjoy the personal mobility that most people take for granted. Google demonstrated the potential for this technology when it had one of its driver-less cars driving a legally blind man to a Taco Bell.

Google is not the only big name pursuing this technology.  Supply giant Continental plans to have autonomous driving assistance available for limited freeway driving and for construction areas by 2015, low-speed city capability in 2017, and two-lane highway and country road driver-less car technology by the end of the decade. The company calls this "the car you can't crash," and the company hopes for a zero-percent accident rate with this technology.

Continental’s key components of the driver-less car include 360-degree cameras, adaptive cruise control, emergency brake assist using radar and camera options, and an emergency brake assist designed for pedestrian protection (which allows the car to make an evasive maneuver by steering in and out of a driving lane).

The European Union will discuss driver-less car legislation at a convention in Vienna.

In the U.S, the states of Nevada, Florida, and California have been the most proactive in advance the cause in the U.S., while Arizona and Hawaii considered similar laws, but failed to pass them.

A Google spokesperson stated that the state of Nevada was very cooperative in their legislation discussions because the state is close to their main operations; while also having a high rate of pedestrian deaths, an aging population, and a versatile terrain.

Continental announced that it expects to have fully autonomous vehicles available by 2025, with premium/luxury cars offering the freeway/construction technology starting on 2015. 

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