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Regional Journalism

Oregon Lawmaker To Bring Back Driverless Car Bill

Steve Jurvetson
/
Flickr
File photo of a Google driverless car operating on a testing path.

One of the big draws at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week is the rapidly advancing technology surrounding driverless cars.

One automaker even programmed one of its cars to drive itself from the San Francisco Bay area all the way to Vegas this week. If that car had made a detour north to Oregon, it's not clear whether it would be driving legally.

But one Oregon lawmaker wants to change that.

Democratic state representative Sara Gelser said she wants to make it clear that Oregon is open to companies developing driverless cars.

"We should have laws that allow our inventors and our innovators to develop the technology to compete with the other companies out there by being able to test their products on the road right here in Oregon,” she said.

Gelser said she'll introduce a bill that would regulate driverless cars when she's sworn into the state Senate next week.

Similar legislation failed two years ago in Oregon and in Washington.