California approves bill allowing driverless cars on state roadways

Some of the companies really pushing driverless cars can be found in California, including Google. Google is one of the biggest supporters of driverless cars and has a fleet of vehicles that have racked up over 300,000 accident-free miles while driving themselves. The state of Nevada already allows driverless cars to operate on its roadways.

California didn’t want to fall behind and lose its high-tech edge and supporters in the state have been pushing to get driverless vehicles approved for use on public roadways within California. The California state legislature has just approved a bill that paves the way for driverless cars to be allowed to cruise the highways around the Golden State. The bill was authored by State Senator Alex Padilla.

The bill was passed by the state Assembly on Wednesday of this week and approved by the state Senate the following day. The only hurdle remaining for the bill is being signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown. If Governor Brown approves the bill, autonomous vehicles would be able to legally operate within the state.

Signing the bill into law would also put the California Department of Motor Vehicles in charge of determining standards for self-driving cars. That could prove to be as big a challenge as getting driverless cars approved since there currently no rules for driverless vehicles within the present vehicle code. Supporters of driverless cars hope that the technology will help reduce accidents and congestion on roads around the state.

[via Huffington Post]