Regulators in California have published draft proposals created to pave the way for the public to start using self-driving cars on the roads.
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A Google self-driving navigates streets near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, on June 29, 2015.
As the DMV stated, all autonomous cars will need steering wheels and pedals when traveling on public roads, as well as a licensed driver with a special certificate called “autonomous vehicle operator certificate” behind the wheel, who should be able to take control if needed. Firstly, manufacturers must certify that their autonomous cars comply with safety and performance standards and must allow the vehicles to undergo an independent performance verification carried out by a third-party.
California’s go-slow approach could benefit Texas, which this summer emerged as a competitor in the deployment of self-driving cars when officials in the capital city of Austin welcomed Google prototypes for company-sponsored testing. The motorists will be responsible for obeying traffic laws, regardless of whether they are at the wheels.
For starters, the DMV’s preliminary rules prohibit autonomous vehicles that don’t have a steering wheel or a brake pedal – Google’s cars have neither steering wheels nor pedals.
While one might assume this would help Google’s autonomous auto initiative, the new rules actually set the company back quite a bit.
“Safety is our highest priority and primary motivator as we do this”, Johnny Luu, a spokesman for Google, said in a statement.
Though the timeline for public access is squishy, in principle the DMV could finalize the rules and a manufacturer could satisfy the safety requirements as early as 2017.
This slightly dampens hopes that self-driving technology would enable those who are now unable to drive – such as people with disabilities – to get on the roads.
California issued its first permit for testing an autonomous vehicle on its public roads to Audi in last September. They have to go through a rule-making process that is expected to take at least half a year, so they aren’t likely to become law until the second half of 2016. The tech-giant also promised to have test drivers on board after this incident. Several automakers, including Tesla Motors Inc., already sell products that fit into this category.
Google is turning its selfdriving cars unit into a standalone business under Alphabet next year, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
However, regulations will continue to pose a threat to the growth of this business division.
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According to commentators, the rules had the potential to be precedent-setting, as California was the only U.S. state to draft a proposal of the kind.
