24 Feb Legal Self-Driving Cars: 3-5 Years

The ABA Journal reports that California may be the first state to approve the use of autonomous or self-driving cars within just a few years. As faithful blogees know, I’m fascinated, excited and maybe a little scared by the prospect of this, as many others apparently are as well. I recently told my 13-year old son that he will have to explain to his kids one day that his parents actually used to drive cars (and type, but that’s another future post).

California already has said they will require an actual driver to be in the car, even though the car folks say it’s not necessary. So much for calling your car to come get you. They are also still figuring out things like who pays if the autonomous car has an accident, or suddenly switches to driver control and something happens in that few second interval.

Proponents say self-driving cars will virtually eliminate accidents since human error will be gone. Others worry about the car computers getting hacked, and following rules of the road perfectly when many drivers do not. Can you say midtown Manhattan traffic? As the article pointed out, it’s apropos that California, the home of the hot rod and much of the US car culture, goes first. Go driverless!