We have learnt from news agency- Reuters – that Google’s self-driven cars will soon be appearing on Nevada, US roads after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles approved on Monday the nation’s first autonomous vehicle license.
The move came after officials rode along on drives on highways, in Carson City neighborhoods and along the famous Las Vegas Strip, the Nevada DMV said in a statement. The Nevada legislature last year authorised self-driven cars for the state’s roads, the first such law in the United States. That law went into effect on March 1, 2012.
The modified Toyota Prius was issued a license bearing an infinity sign next to the left of number “001” after demonstrating its auto-pilot capabilities on highways, neighborhood streets and even the hectic “strip” in Las Vegas. The car was given a unique red license plate to make it recognizable by police and the public as a self-driving test vehicle.
Google’s self-driven cars rely on video cameras, radar sensors, lasers, and a database of information collected from manually driven cars to help navigate, according to the company.
Autonomous vehicles are the “car of the future,” Nevada DMV director Bruce Breslow said in a statement. The state also has plans to eventually license autonomous vehicles owned by the members of the public, the DMV said. Legislation to regulate autonomous cars is being considered in other states, including Google’s home state of California.
This piece of news is good to read and all credit goes to Google for converting imagination into reality. But can Google do this type of marvel in India? I shudder at the thought what will happen on Indian roads if self-driven cars are allowed to run? Traffic on Indian roads is totally haphazard and out of 10, only two persons deserve to drive on Indian roads keeping in view of their road sense and driving discipline. Whenever I ask anybody of my overseas visitors whether he or she would like to take control of the steering then their common reply is that they care for themselves and family wants them. It is an art to drive on Indian roads and all the precautions are thrown to the winds the moment majority of drivers keep their foot on accelerator!
It will be eighth wonder if Google’ s co-founder and visionary – Sergey Brin, can make self-driven car a reality in India, one day. This is very difficult task to accomplish in India and people in India will remember him for posterity if he can invent some software to discipline Indian drivers!
