-----Original Message-----
 From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
 Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 7:42 AM
 To: Mike Bullis
 Subject: Article from New York Times National Desk 2011 05 11

 Google Lobbies Nevada To Allow Driverless Cars. By JOHN MARKOFF. 
 Google, a pioneer of self-driving cars, is quietly lobbying for 
 legislation that would make Nevada the first state where they could be 
 legally operated on public roads.

 And yes, the proposed legislation would include an exemption from the 
 ban on distracted driving to allow occupants to send text messages 
 while sitting behind the wheel.

 The two bills, which have received little attention outside Nevada's 
 Capitol, are being introduced less than a year after the giant search 
 engine company acknowledged that it was developing cars that could be 
 safely driven without human intervention.

 Last year, in response to a reporter's query about its then-secret 
 research and development program, Google said it had test-driven 
 robotic hybrid vehicles more than 140,000 miles on California roads -- 
 including Highway
 1
 between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 More than 1,000 miles had been driven entirely autonomously at that 
 point; one of the company's engineers was testing some of the car's 
 autonomous features on his 50-mile commute from Berkeley to Google's 
 headquarters in Mountain View.

 At the time, Google gave little indication what its commercial intent 
 might be. The company confirmed on Tuesday that it has lobbied on 
 behalf of the legislation, though executives declined to say why they 
 want the robotic cars' maiden state to be Nevada. Jay Nancarrow, a 
 company spokesman, said the project was still very much in the testing 
 phase.

 Google hired David Goldwater, a lobbyist based in Las Vegas, to 
 promote the two measures, which are expected to come to a vote before 
 the Legislature's session ends in June. One is an amendment to an 
 electric-vehicle bill providing for the licensing and testing of 
 autonomous vehicles, and the other is the exemption that would permit 
 texting.

 In testimony before the State Assembly on April 7, Mr. Goldwater 
 argued that the autonomous technology would be safer than human 
 drivers, offer more fuel-efficient cars and promote economic 
 development.

 Although safety systems based on artificial intelligence are rapidly 
 making their way into today's cars, completely autonomous systems 
 raise thorny questions about safety and liability.

 Policy makers and regulators have warned that the technology is now 
 advancing so quickly that it is in danger of outstripping existing 
 law, some of which dates back to the era of horse-drawn carriages. New 
 laws will be required, they argue, if autonomous vehicles are to 
 become a reality.

 Policy analysts say Nevada is the first state to consider the 
 commercial deployment of a generation of vehicles that may park 
 themselves, perform automatic deliveries or even act as automated 
 taxis on the Las Vegas casino strip.

 In some respects this is a great template and a great model,' said 
 Ryan Calo, a legal scholar at the Center for Internet and Society at 
 Stanford Law School. It recognizes a need to create a process to test 
 these vehicles and set aside an area of Nevada where testing can take 
 place.

 Google's fleet of six autonomous Toyota Priuses and an Audi TT are 
 easily identifiable by a distinctive laser range finder mounted on the 
 roof. The cars also have a variety of radar and camera sensors and a 
 trunkful of computer equipment.

 In the testing program, each vehicle is overseen by a driver and a 
 second Google employee who monitors the equipment from the passenger seat.
 Because
 of the human oversight, the company has avoided legal action against 
 reckless -- or, in this case, driverless -- driving.

 The project is being guided by the artificial-intelligence researcher 
 Sebastian Thrun, who as a Stanford professor in 2005 led a team of 
 students and engineers that designed the first winning entry in an 
 autonomous vehicle contest organized by the Pentagon's Defense 
 Advanced Research Projects Agency.

 Since then, Dr. Thrun has focused more of his activities at Google, 
 giving up tenure at Stanford and hiring a growing array of experts to 
 help with the development project.

 In frequent public statements, he has said robotic vehicles would 
 increase energy efficiency while reducing road injuries and deaths. 
 And he has called for sophisticated systems for car sharing that, he 
 says, could cut the number of cars in the United States in half.

 What if I could take out my phone and say, 'Zipcar, come here,' ' he 
 asked an industry conference last year, 'and a moment later the Zipcar 
 came around the corner?

 Google's autonomous vehicle ambitions hint at an emerging 
 vehicle-industrial complex in Silicon Valley. Mercedes, Volkswagen and 
 other carmakers have laboratories in the region, I.B.M. has a battery 
 development initiative, and the Nummi plant in Fremont, once a joint 
 venture of General Motors and Toyota, has been reopened by Tesla.

 PHOTOS: Google has been quietly testing autonomous cars in California. 
 The cars, hybrids, have a laser range finder on the roof, as well as 
 radar and camera sensors and more equipment in the trunk. (PHOTOGRAPHS 
 BY RAMIN RAHIMIAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)  .


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]