California has legalized self-driving cars for use on its roads, marking a major milestone in the move to computer-controlled vehicles, dpa quoted the state's governor Jerry Brown as saying. Brown signed the legislation into law at a ceremony at the headquarters of Google, the web software company that has taken the lead in developing and integrating the complex technologies needed to control a car on public roads without the need for human interaction. 'We're looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow's reality - the self-driving car,' Brown said, according to media reports Wednesday. 'Anyone who gets inside a car and finds out the car is driving will be a little skittish, but they'll get over it.' The legislation SB1928 mandates California's Department of Motor Vehicles to develop the specific regulation for the testing and operation of the self-driving vehicles. Because of its size and wealth, California has traditionally set the standards for US auto regulations and Google CEO Sergey Brin predicted that driverless cars would enter the mainstream within five years. Google's driverless cars had already completed 300,000 miles without incident, he said at the signing ceremony Tuesday. Brin touted the computer controlled cars as being safer than ones driven by humans. Because they are able to interact with each other, they would also ease congestion by allowing cars to travel closer to one another, and by dropping one passenger off and then going to pick up another. That would be a great way to free up parking spaces, but taxi drivers may not be too happy. 'I think the self-driving car can really dramatically improve the quality of life for everyone,' Brin said, providing transport to people who can't drive themselves, such as the blind, disabled, elderly and intoxicated. 'I expect that self-driving cars will be far safer than human-driven cars,' Brin said.
