Monday roundup: Driverless cars, discount ‘adult’ toys

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Adamandeve com Wrapped Truck
Adamandeve.com wrapped truck hits streets (PRNewsFoto/AdamAndEve.com)

Data on self-driving car laws mapped by Stanford research project
Self-driving autos have been in the news for a while now, and perhaps the biggest question — irrespective of the potential for a truly self-driving truck and such technology’s import for the future of the owner-operator business — might be whether big trucks’ interactions with such vehicles might lead to better (or worse) safety on the road, given the well-known erratic driving of many members of the motoring public, increasingly difficult-to-negotiate traffic and more.

As I’ve reported in recent memory, public opinion polling has shown a safety-negative perception to date, but some operators are at least open to the notion that a four-wheeler driven by a computer might be preferable to one piloted down an interstate highway by a drunk on his/her way home from the bar.

State lawmakers and regulators seem to be similarly divided, given the paucity of laws in place to govern the vehicles’ legality on the public road. The following Center for Internet and Society map charts just where law is in place governing self-driving vehicles, with just four states (in blue) showing currently passed legislation.

Autonomous-cars legal map

The real news, as relayed via the folks at Vocativ, is how many states have in recent memory pursued or are currently pursuing some form of legislation or regulation. Counting the blue states among them, they account for right around half of all the states in the nation.

The Stanford Center for Internet tracks it all in this wiki on their website, where you can follow the latest.

File in ‘weird’: Sex toy discounts — via reefer trailer
It calls itself “America’s most trusted source for adult products” — AdamandEve.com, that is. Running into Valentine’s Day this coming weekend the company’s created a special 50 percent off promo code, “rig,” they’re advertising on four wrapped 53-foot box trailers. Now through March, the four units will run I-85 and I-95 between Atlanta and Baltimore, I-75 to Ohio, and potentially to Louisiana and North Florida as well, all featuring a bikini-clad Bree Olson in addition to company and promo information.

Company Marketing Director Chad Davis encourages drivers to send pictures of the unit via Twitter @adamandeve and the company’s Facebook page to “possibly win prizes.”

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Use your imagination (or try not to, I suppose) to determine what those might be.

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