California to give the green light to truly driverless cars

LOS ANGELES — Cars with no steering wheel and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year.

In a powerful boost to the industry from the nation's most populous state, California's Department of Motor Vehicles is proposing rules that would open the way for truly driverless cars.

For the past two years, tech companies and automakers have been testing self-driving cars on California's roads. But regulators insisted that those vehicles have steering wheels, pedals and human backup drivers who could take over in an emergency.

Now that could change.

That would a major advance, given California's size, its clout as the nation's biggest car market, and its longtime role as a cultural and technology trendsetter.