The bill, which was drafted by State Senator Alex Padilla (D-Van Nuys), unanimously passed the Senate Assembly last August 29. It earned overwhelming thumbs up from the State Senate the following day.
Now, the bill is awaiting the approval of Governor Jerry Brown. Once it has been signed into law, the self driving car could legally hit California roadways. Also, the bill would charge the state’s Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) with determining the standards for the autonomous car — rules that do not currently exist under the present vehicle code.
Experts say that approximately 90 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human errors. Therefore, if humans are taken out of the driver’s seat, there is a strong possibility that car accident rates will significantly drop down. Nevertheless, the bill further requires the self-driving cars to have a human driver behind the wheel in case something goes wrong.
Earlier last month in its official blog site, tech giant, Google announced that its autonomous cars have already logged a total of 300,000 miles. Google’s engineering team simply proved that the technology is relatively at stake and that its self-driving car is ready to explore the U.S. roadways.
After Nevada, California is the second U.S. state to allow self-driving cars to roam around in its busy streets while Hawaii, Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma are considering similar legislation at present.
However, issues regarding the automated vehicles are in disputes, such as who will be held liable in case of an accident, the driver or the manufacturer? Another thing is its precious amount which sparks debate whether it is possible to create a cost-effective one.
On a similar view, a Los Angeles automobile accident attorney likewise believes that robot cars are more reliable than those human operated since it have been proven to be absolutely safe. However, the above-said issues should be properly addressed first before those self-driving cars finally hit the road.
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