I don't want an autonimous car, I want a companion possibly electronic that will drive my car.

On May 11, 2011, at 6:07 PM, Lillian Scaife wrote:

							
-----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)  .


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