Nevada issues first self-driving car license plates to Google

About a year ago, Nevada passed laws allowing autonomous vehicles to operate on its roads. Rules for issuance were then deliberated and enacted by the Nevada Department of Transportation. Now, Google has received the first of the red Nevada "Autonomous Unit" license plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles, including AU plate number 001.

The custom license plates are red to quickly denote a self-driving vehicle. The plates are adorned with a stylized figure eight highway track and the letters AU at the center ("autonomous unit") and then three numbers, as seen in the photo to the right from Google and the Nevada DMV.

Google is putting the plates on its Prius test vehicles now that it has complied with the insurance, training, and accident reporting requirements of the new Nevada law.

In a press conference, the director of the Nevada DMV, Bruce Breslow, said:

"I felt using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the 'car of the future.' The unique red plate will be easily recognized by the public and law enforcement and will be used only for licensed autonomous test vehicles. When there comes a time that vehicle manufactures market autonomous vehicles to the public, that infinity symbol will appear on a green license plate."

Besides Google, other companies are developing and testing self-driving vehicles including Germnay's Continental Automotive Group, which is currently racking up test time in order to get Nevada's approval. Nevada's DMV has said that other companies, which it did not name, have also begun or are conducting self-driving tests to qualify for the Autonomous Unit plates.