The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued federal policy for automated, or self-driving vehicles, to spur innovation while taking a proactive approach to safety. The full policy is now available, and viewable in full either via the embed below, or at the Transportation.gov official website.
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It wants the government to be able to make country-wide decisions about the safety of self-driving vehicles rather than the current system which sees individual states set their own regulations.
The rules include a 15-point safety standard for makers and designers of what the government called HAVs, or highly automated vehicles.
U.S. transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said on a conference call with reporters that a new premarket approval system overseen by the government “would require a lot more upfront discussion, dialogue and staffing on our part”. But it also has the potential to substantially impact into the American workforce, “create new jobs and render other jobs obsolete”, Obama writes.
The preview of the policy was given ahead of a press conference on Tuesday at which the government is expected to discuss more details of the policy as well as new powers the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) may require, according to reports. The federal government should be in charge of regulating self-driving cars rather than states since the vehicles are essentially controlled by software, not people, Obama administration officials said September 19 as they laid out the broad outlines of their plans to help get the transformational technology safely onto the nation’s roadways. The choice venue is interesting: Uber has been running a pilot project offering customers taxi rides in autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh.
In what appeared to be a win for Google’s self-driving auto project, NHTSA said it could exempt up to a few thousand vehicles from regulations that require steering wheels and brake pedals for testing, but would need a change in law to permanently change the rules. The guidelines then outline how states can legally allow manufacturers to introduce the vehicle to the mass market.
More Americans say they they’re more anxious about the prospect of self-driving cars than excited.
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The Federal Automated Vehicle Policy released today is a product of significant public input and stakeholder discussions, including two open public meetings this year and an open public docket for comments. When there’s a human behind the wheel, state laws apply. The Autopilot system, which allows drivers to keep their hands off the wheels for extended periods, did not require any pre approval by the agency for use by owners. The vehicle should be able to change modes safely when there is a technical malfunction, but should consider the condition of the driver, for instance, if they are drowsy or under the influence of alcohol.
