The guidelines then outline how states can legally allow manufacturers to introduce the vehicle to the mass market. “Both government and industry have a responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen”.
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Industry reaction, however, was largely favorable. Makers will also have to provide information how the technology been tested as well as the kinds of fail-safes that have been put in place.
“What I didn’t want to happen is this technology landing on our doors and our department not being able to deal with it on our own terms”, said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a call with reporters.
The U.S. government on Tuesday released new rules for the fast-growing, high-profile world of self-driving cars, touting the technology’s possible safety benefits and potential.
The federal recommendations don’t override states’ right to make rules relating to vehicle registrations, insurance, traffic laws and driver’s licenses, but the policy does urge states to resist issuing countering safety standards for driverless cars.
More Americans say they they’re more anxious about the prospect of self-driving cars than excited.
The DOT overview includes a 15-point “vehicle performance guidance” for safety aspects of the vehicles, calls for states to form policies for the design and development of autonomous vehicles and clarifies how existing regulations can be applied to future innovations. Laid out in four sections, the policy aims to be holistic, ensuring automated vehicles are safe and user-friendly before they reach wide scale adoption on public roads.
The government now allows automakers to self-certify that vehicles comply with safety standards.
The brief checklist contemplates everything from user security and data collection and transmission to the functioning of the self-driving systems in the vehicles set out to take the road in the United States. The emphasis on voluntary action reflected the reality, cited by regulators, that enacting formal rules could take years and securing congressional approval to expand NHTSA’s authority faces political obstacles.
Wallace acknowledges the government might need to establish new legal authority to regulate self-driving cars. His statement comes a day after ride-sharing service Lyft co-founder and chief executive John Zimmer predicted that private vehicle ownership will end in major American cities by 2025 and a week after industry giant Uber launched a groundbreaking driverless auto service in Pittsburgh.
“Traditional regulations are going to take too long”, said Bryant Walker Smith, an expert on self-driving cars at the University of SC.
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The California Department of Motor Vehicles, in a statement on Tuesday, said it “supports NHTSA’s goal of creating a consistent approach and national framework” for self-driving cars.
