Nevada OKs Driverless Cars?

Will Nevada be the first state to have driverless cars on the highway? Well according to this article in Popsci (via Boing Boing) not anytime in the near future but what has taken place IS big in its' own right. recently a bill was passed that granting the Department of Transportation the authorization to draft a set of regulations and rules governing autonomous cars.

From the article:

• The legislation charges the Nevada DOT with creating the legal framework that will determine things like performance standards and licensing requirements, as well as designating certain areas within the state where autonomous cars might be tested.

So, no cars without drivers zoomin down the highways of Nevada, but they will be the first to have a framework in place when testing begins and considering some states are still struggling with low speed electrics, this kind of thing is very forward thinking.

Popsci article

Do you need protection from robots?

Top robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey, of the University of Sheffield thinks so. He has called for international guidelines to be set for the ethical and safe application of robots. Sharkey believes that as the use of robots increases, decisions about their application will be left to the military, industry and busy parents instead of international legislative bodies. He is concerned because the amount of various helper robots is on the rise. Despite this no international legislation or policy guidelines currently exist.

This has science fiction written all over it, Asimov played with the idea in several stories. Sharkey, despite the crackpot feel to the idea, does make some points....Like who should make the decision to set controls?

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