Self-driving cars may be on the roads a lot sooner than you think.

In a statement issued by the Obama administration, the government is preparing to launch a research initiative to test the safety and dependability of self-driving vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Administration stated that they feel so confident in self-driving vechiles that they believe eventually the cars will save "thousands of lives yearly" according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The NHTA has already had meetings with companies like Google and other automakers about their plans to create self-driving cars and some companies are a lot further along than expected.

In a press forum in Washington, D.C., NHTSA Administrator David Strickland discussed the agency's expectations and plans for autonomous vehicles. 

"Automated vehicles offer an important and challenging method for reducing crash risk that we believes holds great promise," said Strickland at the press conference .

Last month California unanimously passed a bill in favor of autonomous vehicle operation, making Google that much closer to releasing their self-driving car to customers all around the world. The bill was then approved by State Assembly a couple weeks later according to the Associated Press.  

Google has been working on self-driving cars since 2010 and already has over 300,000 test miles completed on their autonomous hybrids.  Initially seven Toyota Priuses were designed to use laser range finders, cameras, radar, inertial sensors, and high-detail maps to drive the car while a human sits behind the wheel monitoring everything.

"We recognize the responsibility that comes with that," said Chris Urmson, Google's technical leader for the self-driving car to Bloomberg Businessweek. "It's important that we proceed as quickly as possible but with all the appropriate caution and safety consciousness."

Auto companies like Audi, and General Motors are all working on developing their own technology to break into the autonomous market.  

Strickland also discussed how human error plays a role in about 90 percent of traffic deaths each year, and that something has to be done to lower that number. They believe self-driving cars will eventually get that number to under 30 percent seeing as the only time a human would have to take over the vehicle would be to control the vehicle if there is a malfunction.

 Self-driving cars will also help in areas such as traffic jams on high ways, intersections that don't have traffic lights, and could eventually put an end to the ever growing drunk driving problem our country deals with.   

The NHTSA expects self-driving cars to be seen on roads nationwide within the next decade, possibly earlier if a company is able to create a vehicle that meets the NHTSA's expectations.

Tim Johnson, NHTSA's Director of crash avoidance and electronic controls research said last week that his agency plans on spending two to three years researching real-world implications using autonomous vehicle technology according to Wired. The studies will take place at Virginia Tech according to the Associated Press. 

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