Robot cars now officially legal in California

At a signing ceremony at the Google headquarters on Tuesday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law state legislation that officially makes the Golden State the second in the nation to legalize and regulate autonomous cars.

Google, of course, has already developed a fleet of a dozen cars (mostly modified Toyota Priuses) and has already logged over 300,000 miles of autonomous driving on state roads.

The new law obliges the California Department of Motor Vehicles to draft regulations for autonomous vehicles by January 1, 2015. "These vehicles have the potential to avoid accidents—we can save lives, create jobs, and reduce congestion," said Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the event. "I expect that self-driving cars will be far safer than human-driven cars."