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The White House unveiled a plan on Thursday to spend nearly $4 billion over 10 years to accelerate the development of self-driving cars.
"Automated vehicles open up possibilities for saving lives, saving time and saving fuel," said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx at a press conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
It's part of a broader initiative announced by President Barack Obama during his State of the Union address on Tuesday to build a "21st century transportation system." Within six months, the federal government hopes to unveil a "model state policy" on self-driving cars that would offer "a path to consistent national policy," according to a government press release.
Look I already think this President is perhaps the greatest of my life time, but if he helps to make self driving cars a reality before I kick the bucket then he becomes one of the greatest Presidents of all time.
I also recently saw an interview with Elon Musk where he explained that in the future autonomous cars will seem as indispensable to us as home computers and dishwashers.
Interestingly enough my daughter and I are on totally different sides of this issue.
She likes to drive and does not want some car doing it for her, but I explained that is all well and good at her age but for elderly people, handicapped people, and others incapable or unwilling to drive this will be an incredibly important breakthrough.
Personally I am looking forward to the next advances in technology with bated breath.