Nevada OK's Google self-driving robotic cars: More gambling, faster rides

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | June 25 2011 10:59 PM

The future may be approaching sooner than expected with Nevada passing a bill that would allow the state's DOP, Department of Transportation, to setup rules and safety standards for automated self-driving cars. The government decision could be a proactive step towards increasing state income, reducing traffic, and trailblazing the introduction of self-driving vehicles in the U.S.

Youtube

A self-driving car in action as Google engineers test drive the vehicle in a parking lot.

Sponsorship Link

Nevada's new bill could have a positive effect in collaborating with Google for future self-driving robotic vehicles. Many advantages obtained throughout the development of this project range from increased gambling opportunities for visitors, reduced traffic, and lower fatalities related to drunk driving.

More efficient car rides can drive Las Vegas' over 37.4 million gamblers from one casino to the next more quickly. Automated cars can drive closer to one another without crashing due to faster response time and accurate distance measurements. The use of robotic drivers can eliminate accidents due to faster and more accurate response time. That is also good news for party goers who cannot find a designated driver. The fear of drunk driving accidents can be greatly reduced if the self-driving car proves to be a convenient option of transportation.

The self-driving cars are indeed the ones we've seen on TV and movies where GPS and coordinating sensors navigate a car without a human driver. This could be great news for Google as it has been in the forefront with experimentation on automated robotic cars which already logged in 140,000 on the road test milesion California.

Sebastian Thrun, project leader for Google's self-driving car and professor at Stanford University, describes the benefits of robotic self-driving cars at a TED 2011 conference speech. He stated that human errors are the majority causes of driving accidents rather than technical machinery.

Do you realize that we could change the capacity of highways by a factor of two or three if we didn't rely on human precision on staying in the lane but on robotic precision, and thereby drive a little bit closer together on a little bit narrower lanes and do away with all traffic jams on highways, said Thrun.

The results could add more cars and potential customers onto the busy Las Vegas roads without alleviating traffic congestion. Visitors could spend less time commuting and increase their average hourly gambling time above 3.9 per day.

With 87% of Las Vegas visitors gambling during their trip, the new automated self-driving cars could add a boost to the gambling industry. The state of Nevada garners $9 billion dollars in gaming revenue each year. Statistics were provided by Vegas.com, the official Vegas Travel site.

WATCH the self-driving car in action as Google engineers test drive the vehicle in a parking lot.