Google's driverless cars now allowed in Nevada, other states may go down same road

CLEVELAND - Don't freak out if you see a driverless car cruising down the road the next time you head to Las Vegas.

Nevada now allows Google's driverless cars on the road. Nevada State Department of Motor Vehicles gave Google the first license in the country for a driverless car on Monday.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, the move follows legislation last year that allows test-driving of vehicles capable of driving themselves.

In the limited test program Nevada approved, two people must be in Google's Self-Driving Car at all times - one behind the wheel, and one in the passenger seat. Also, no text messaging allowed, for now. Google asked lawmakers to exempt human backup drivers from state laws that prohibit text messaging from behind the wheel.

The Google car is navigated by artificial intelligence, assisted by the global positioning system and several motion sensors.

"It uses cameras inside to spot traffic lights and other things," said Sebastian Thrun, a Google software engineer. "It also uses... is a scanning laser."

Driverless cars in Nevada have a license plate with a red background and an infinity symbol. Regular Nevada plates are blue-gray.

The car's creators said this self-driving car shows the road to the future.

"If you wish to drive it that's fine. If you wish to waste 52 minutes in commute traffic, go ahead, be my guest," Thrun said.

Florida, Oklahoma, Hawaii and Oklahoma are moving towards legislation that will allow driverless cars on the road.

No word on when such a cruise in Ohio may be possible.

Google won't have a monopoly on the driverless market. Last week, General Motors leaders announced they are working on a self-driving car, called the Super Cruise.