Once the stuff of science-fiction, it now seems that self-drive cars are the cars of the future as the state of Nevada has approved the first self-driven vehicle licence in the USA.
The car in question, a Toyota Prius, is fitted with video cameras, a laser range finder and radar sensors which allow it to 'see' other vehicles on the road. The car's software uses the information collected by these devices to allow the car to drive itself.
The car, which is sponsored by internet giant Google, has already been driven on public roads through the streets of San Francisco, including a crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge. However, it seems that the engineers did not have total faith in the car as a driver remained behind the wheel at all times to take control if something went wrong.
Amazingly, it seems that the car actually works. Sebastian Thrun, one of the vehicle's software engineers, claims that the car has been driven 140,000 miles with only one incident - a rear-end collision caused by another motorist.
Nevada legalised self-drive cars in March and other states are reportedly planning to make self-drive cars legal.
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