Google's self-driving car takes blind man to Taco Bell

By Salvador Rodriguez

March 29, 2012 12 AM PT

Google’s self-driving car has fascinated our minds with its technological promise since being introduced in 2010. But yesterday, the self-driving car touched our hearts.

Google posted a video of the self-driving car taking a legally blind man for a spin, showing one of the possibilities and benefits that could come from the technology.

“Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go to the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things,” Steve Mahan says in the video.

The self-driving car takes Mahan to Taco Bell for a quick meal and a dry cleaner to pick up his clothes.

“Look, Ma, no hands,” Mahan says. “No hands, no feet.”

Google, which posted the video on its Google+ account, said the drive took place on a carefully programmed route and showed one of the possibilities that self-driving cars could offer.

“There’s much left to design and test, but we’ve now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, gathering great experiences and an overwhelming number of enthusiastic supporters,” Google said in the post.

Though it’s uncertain just how far off self-driving cars may be from becoming a reality, the process to getting there is certainly in motion. Just last month, Nevada became the first state to legalize self-driving cars, according to PCMag.