Google Takes Another Step Toward Putting Self-Driving Cars On Your Highway

Google's self-driving cars make too much sense not to be everywhere soon.

They're safer than human drivers.

And, other than dealing with snow on the ground, the technology behind them is pretty much there.

The big remaining hold-up is laws.

So, it's notable that Google just took a big step to overcome that obstacle.

Wired reports Google just hired Ron Medford, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s deputy director.

He should help Google navigate the government.

Wired's Damon Lavrinc:

Medford’s departure comes just a week after NHTSA began the development of a program to regulate and set performance standards for autonomous vehicles, with NHTSA administrator David Strickland announcing plans to work on a two- to three-year research project that will oversee the regulation of autonomous vehicles in the next several years.

“Deputy Administrator Medford brings a long history of working on safety issues involving automobiles and other consumer products,” a NHTSA spokesman told Wired, “and will use that experience at Google.”

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