– California unveiled precedent-setting draft rules Wednesday that would slow the public’s access to self-driving cars of the future until regulators are confident the technology is safe.
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The DMV says the draft regulations are meant to promote the continued development of autonomous vehicle technology in California, while transitioning manufacturers from testing to deployment of self-driving cars.
“We’ve always been advocates of the notion that if you are to have a so-called self-driving auto, you’ll need a steering wheel and pedals and licensed driver capable of taking over if something goes wrong”, said John Simpson, an advocate at the organization.
Astro Teller, head of the X division, has on several occasions said that the company’s tests show humans to be a poor fallback, because once they learn to trust self-driving technology they ignore the road and therefore are not well equipped to take over in the event of an emergency. California also banned the sale of self-driving cars, limiting manufacturers to leasing the vehicles.
Meanwhile, Uber – whose car-riding app has seen rapid global adoption while also raising the ire of many traditional taxi drivers – is also hard at work to enable autonomous cars, which it sees as the next disruptive innovation in transportation.
Google criticized the proposal in a statement to Automotive News, saying the company was “gravely disappointed” that California was “writing a ceiling on the potential for fully self-driving cars”. The draft calls for manufacturers to offer customers supplemental training courses that award certificates of completion and are recorded on individuals’ driver’s licenses. “The burden is on the developers of the system to prove that it is sufficiently safe and it’s not going to jeopardize public safety”.
YouTube, Android, advertising, maps, and search are part of the Google unit.
Google had already been forced to retrofit controls to these cars following an earlier California ruling.
The cars use a suite of sensors – including radar, lasers and cameras – and onboard computers to drive.
“Safety is our highest priority and primary motivator as we do this”, a Google spokesperson told The New York Times. In September, the safety chief of its self-driving vehicle project, Ron Medford, said the technology was “close to working pretty damn well”. In other words, no privately-owned autonomous cars.
The proposed DMV regulations may affect plans for San Francisco. “The regulations are in draft form and they will evolve as we get input”.
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Two public workshops addressing the draft regulations will take place at California State University in Sacramento on January 28 and at the Junipero Serra Building in LA on February 2.
