It won’t be long until we will be sitting in driverless cars to get to our destinations.  As we speak, Google is working on making autonomous cars for the future. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California went to Google headquarters on Wednesday, September 26th to sign the historical law which allows the self operated cars to make their own way on the roads.

At the signing ceremony, the governor rode in the passenger seat of a self driven Toyota Prius. The company is optimistic that these cars could be beneficial to the physically handicapped and blind person as well as improve the overall quality of life of people. These cars may even solve the daily issue of traffic congestion in major cities.

Google has been working on the development of these autonomous cars since 2009 and has even taken them out on the roads of California for testing. Google’s driverless cars will be working with radar sensors, video cameras, laser, and a database of information collected from manual cars which will help the navigation of these cars. The new law will be effective next year and will establish the safety and performance code for testing the driverless cars. Nevertheless, it will be mandatory to have an operator in the driver’s seat so they can control the car in an emergency. This type of technology is dated back all the way to the 1950’s when General Motors released their Dream Cars based on the autopilot feature.

Since Google does not plan on manufacturing these cars themselves, they will be partnering with the leading industry players for production. BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo are some of the leading companies that are already starting to develop the autonomous technology for the future. One of the leading chip makes, Intel, will also invest $100 million for the development of the future automobile technology. Nevada and Florida, lik California, have passed similar laws to allow driverless vehicles on the road. This proves that the idea of sitting in a car and having a stress free drive is not so far away from reality.