Self driving Google car almost legal in California



Self driving Google car almost legal in California

Published by Kelly Levinsohn on Sep 25th, 2012, 1 Comment



Google's self-driving car will soon reach legal status, that will allow it to drive on the highways of California.

Jerry Brown, the governor of California will today sign the recently passed Google robot car bill at the tech giant's headquarters in Mountain View. Google co-founder Sergey Brin as well as other local elected officials will be present at this exciting and for some, controversial event.

According to The Bay Citizen, the bill, SB 1298, has recently passed the California legislature after a fierce lobbying campaign by Google who used significant resources to have the bill passed during the 2009/2010 legislative session including:

Paying $140,000 for the lobbying services of Jonathan Ross, from the prominent Sacramento firm KP Public Affairs.

Contributing $64,000 for the campaign to 36 members and successful candidates for the state Senate and Assembly.

Paying $25,900 each to Brown and his unsuccessful Republican rival, Meg Whitman.

The Bay Citizen also stated that the bill would "allow companies to test self-driven cars on public roads and require the DMV to draft rules governing use of the vehicles by the public. The measure also would define a car's "operator" as the person sitting in the driver's seat, or if there's no one in the driver's seat, the person who "causes the autonomous technology to engage."

What do you think of Google's self-driving car operating on public roads – Would you find it scary or exciting?
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device