Mar 5, 2012, 8:15am ET

Proposed California bill would set guidelines for autonomous cars

California could become the second state in the U.S. to pass such a bill.

Nevada made history last year when it became the first state in the country to pass a bill that explicitly allows companies like Google to test autonomous cars on its public roads.



California might be on the verge of becoming the second state that allows self-driving vehicles thanks to a bill called Senate Bill 1298 that was introduced last week by Senator Alex Padilla.



At the time of writing, California law doesn't ban autonomous vehicles, but it doesn't allow them, either. This creates a big legal gray area if these vehicles are involved in a crash.



If Senator Padilla's bill is approved, it would give the California Highway Patrol the green light to work with companies like Google to draft out a set of guidelines that autonomous cars must abide by in order to be considered street-legal.



Critics of the bill have brought up the potential safety hazard that is associated with allowing a risky technology that is not yet fine-tuned to operate on public roads. However, Senator Padilla doesn't believe that is a problem.



"The vast majority of vehicle accidents are due to human error. Through the use of computers, sensors and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analyzing the driving environment more quickly and operating the vehicle more safely. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce traffic fatalities and improve safety on our roads and highways," announced Padilla, who spent a day riding in an antonoumous Prius by Google.



Members of Google's top brass are equally excited about the bill.



"California is our home state. Our self-driving cars have safely traveled more than 200,000 miles here," said Anthony Levandowski, Google's product manager.



The California senate will vote on the bill in the near future. It is worth noting that Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, and Oklahoma are also considering similar bills.