The US state of California is to allow autonomous cars - cars driven by computers - to drive themselves on public roads, and to be regulated.
It is the first step towards a possible network of robot cars that would allow drivers to sit behind the wheel and let their vehicle's computer system do all the work.
The legislation allowing the cars has been pushed by the internet company, Google, which has been developing the computer-driven cars
Google's co-founder Sergey Brin expects them to be on public streets within five years.
He says the driverless cars could change lives, especially for the disabled.
