Google's self-driving cars get their first learner's permit
A screen capture of what Google's driverless car sees. Nevada DMV/AP
Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles awarded the first official license for an autonomous car.
Google's mysterious and seductive self-driving car has taken another step toward the assimilation of our nation's byways, now that the state of Nevada has given the robotic wonder its very own driver's license. The Department of Motor Vehicles spent the last several months developing a new set of regulations to govern the operation and testing of "autonomous" vehicles and they've just awarded the first official driver's license based on those regulations to Google. That means the company can now test drive its cars on any public state roads, provided there are two soft and fleshy humans inside the vehicle who can monitor and take control, if necessary. Unfortunately, having two slow-witted mammals behind the wheel actually makes the car more dangerous, as the only known traffic accident involving a Google car was blamed on human error. Apparently, we're the ones who can't be trusted to keep the machines safe.
Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.