Red Tape Mounts For Google Self Driving Cars In California - Considers Program In Texas Instead

With Google’s self-driving cars slowed in a gridlock of California regulation, Texas is offering a fast lane.

Officials in Austin have embraced the technology, a welcome so warm that the mayor used talking points written by a Google lobbyist when the tech titan began testing prototypes on their streets over the summer.

That embrace came as state transportation and safety policymakers are struggling with whether they share Google’s vision of — sooner than later — getting the public access to cars that have neither a steering wheel nor pedals.