Lawmaker: North Dakota ideal for testing driverless cars

Bismarck, N.D.

January 10, 2015 10:45 AM

Edmund G. Brown Jr., Sergey Brin — Google co-founder Sergey Brin gestures after riding in a driverless car with California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., left, and state Senator Alex Padilla, second from left, to a bill signing for driverless cars at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012.
Eric Risberg / AP

A North Dakota lawmaker envisions the state's wide-open spaces and wintry weather as the perfect testing ground for driverless cars and other automated vehicles.

Democratic Rep. Ben Hanson of West Fargo is pushing a bill that would allow the testing of the robotic vehicles on North Dakota highways.

The measure would require a person to be behind the wheel to take "immediate manual control" of the vehicle should something go wrong.

Hanson says a few states have laws in place that allow the testing of driverless vehicles. But he says North Dakota would be the first "truly rural" state to do so.

North Dakota's Transportation Department isn't sold on the idea.

Driver's License Division director Glenn Jackson says the agency needs more time for study.

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