Drivers in Las Vegas – and throughout the state of Nevada for that matter – may soon start seeing some cars with unusual roof-mounted cameras on them. These people might think: who in their right mind would drive something like that?
Oddly enough, the answer is: nobody.
On Monday, Nevada officially began issuing licenses for driverless cars in the state. Google has been testing these vehicles for quite some time, and now the conglomerate wants these vehicles to experience real-life road conditions on a large scale. Google hopes that these autonomous cars will be a staple among American motorists in the years to come.
The driverless cars operate using data collected by roof-mounted cameras and other sensors to control the vehicles’ steering, braking, and acceleration. They utilize artificial intelligence and a global positioning system to move through traffic without any assistance from a driver. Last year, the state legislature approved the testing of driverless cars on Nevada roadways as long as both the driver’s and front passenger seats are occupied by humans.
In addition to the roof-mounted cameras, you’ll be able to spot these driverless cars by their license plates, which will be red in color with an infinity symbol [∞] on the plate’s left side. Thus far, driverless cars have performed almost perfectly in tests. But if for some reason one of them does cause an auto accident, those people who are injured do have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit against Google in order to collect damages for medical expenses and other related costs.