Will Washington be next to authorize driverless cars?

Washington - The nation's capital may be the next region to approve driverless cars depending on the outcome of a hearing on Tuesday.

According to The Washington Post (via Associated Press) a hearing is scheduled today by the D.C. Council to examine the issue of allowing driverless cars. Earlier this year after Nevada became the first state to pass legislation to allow autonomous vehicles on the road, Google's car was spotted taking a "victory lap" in Washington the following day, presumably to show the car off to policymakers. The event last May was seemingly kept low-key, with the press reportedly not being invited to the event by Google. Councilmember Mary Cheh, a Ward 3 Democrat, introduced the bill to the District. If passed, Washington will be the fourth governing agency to endorse driverless cars, following Nevada, Florida and California. The idea of driverless cars on the roads is steadily gaining traction. According to a recent piece in Computerworld, Intel CTO Justin Rattner predicts the cars to be available in 10 years. Google CEO Sergey Brin earlier had offered predictions of five years. Google is the company that is primarily pushing autonomous cars and maintains these cars are safer than cars driven by humans. If all goes as well as Google hopes, Washington, D.C., may be the next region to allow autonomous cars.