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Bill to legalize self-driving cars motors through Utah House

(Keith Srakocic | AP file photo) In this Dec. 18, 2018, photo a sensor and camera array on top of one of the test vehicles from Argo AI, Ford's autonomous vehicle unit, is parked at the company offices in Pittsburgh. Even the most optimistic experts say it will be 10 years before self-driving vehicles are everywhere, but others believe it will take decades. The biggest reasons are camera and laser sensors that can’t see through heavy snow or figure out where to go if lane lines are covered.

  | Feb. 20, 2019, 8:20 p.m.
| Updated: Feb. 21, 2019, 3:01 a.m.

A bill to fully legalize driverless, autonomous vehicles anywhere on Utah roads easily motored its way through the Utah House on Wednesday.

House members approved HB101 on a 70-0 vote, and sent it to the Senate for consideration.

Bill sponsor, Rep. Robert Spendlove, R-Sandy, said it aims mostly to allow developers of self-driving cars to move testing away from closed tracks and onto public roads — and said several companies are interested in doing that here as soon as the legislation is enacted.

Such testing on public roads is already occurring in states such as Arizona, California and Pennsylvania. But Spendlove has said it will still be years before many truly self-driving cars are seen regularly on highways.