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Self-driving cars coming to San Antonio as early as June

The City of San Antonio is considering proposals from self-driving car companies to start a pilot program in June.

The Department of Transportation has chosen 10 testing grounds around the country for self-driving cars and San Antonio made the list.

City leaders say that Fredericksburg Road between the Medical Center and downtown will be one of the primary testing routes mainly because the distance between the stop lights make it a good fit to test the technology.

Self-driving cars use radars to know where they are, what's around, and how fast to go. Experts in self-driving technology say that they think these cars actually have potential to be safer than normal ones.

"People do a lot of dumb stuff, so I mean just the fact the vehicle can see all around itself at one time, it doesn't blink, it doesn't have to turn its head, that's really important,” said Chris Mentzer from the Southwest Research Institute. “It can think all the time, it doesn't get tired, drowsy, things like that.”

It's the way of the future and soon you could see these kinds of cars driving around San Antonio. City leaders are already looking at proposals from different self-driving car companies.

"What this is is just a service where an unmanned vehicle shows up to your work or home, picks you up and drops you off, wherever you want to go around the city," Councilman Manny Palaez said.

They say that, eventually, they hope autonomous vehicles will help drivers save money on gas and parking and help the city ease traffic congestion.

"Parking has a cost to it, so what everybody agrees is really dictating a deep dive into this technology. And its potential is that a technology like this may potentially do away with the need for parking downtown forever," Councilman Palaez said.

Details about who can ride in the cars and what it'll cost are still up in the air. Councilman Palaez says that many of those decisions will be up to the company they choose to do the pilot program.

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