Look, No Hands: Autonomous Cars Take Another Step Toward Reality

Is the world ready for cars that drive themselves? Apparently, the state of Nevada thinks so. "The Silver State!" (?) just passed Assembly Bill 511, which authorizes the DOT to develop rules and regulations on the use of autonomous vehicles. Currently, there aren't any--autonomous vehicles aren't even allowed on public roads--but, this bill may provide technology companies, like Google, with a roadmap to guide their ongoing research into the field.

Google isn't the only one working on self-driving cars. Naturally, carmakers are developing their own technologies to propel us into a hands-free future. For instance, Volkswagen has just presented their Temporary Auto-Pilot (TAP) technology and, unlike Google, it uses systems that are available today.



Many technologically-advanced cars already offer passive safety systems like lane-departure assist and adaptive cruise control. Using these systems, VW, along with Sweden's HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transportation), developed TAP to drive a car autonomously at speeds up to 80 mph. Think of it like cruise control that not only controls the throttle, but also the brake pedal and steering wheel.

Rest assured that TRANSLOGIC will continue to follow this story closely, if only so we might be first to welcome our robot overlords.

[Source: Forbes, VW]