Until now, the rules regarding self-driving vehicles have been hazy. The president outlined the new rules that the DOT would be releasing today, saying that his administration aims to be flexible in the way that it deals with the nascent technology, so as to not hinder innovation, but also ensure that self-driving cars can be brought to USA highways in a way that can reduce the number of driving deaths, rather than increase them. The guidelines also set performance standards for self-driving cars and offers guidelines for how states can legislate autonomous vehicles.
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Looking to encourage the nascent autonomous vehicle industry – and ensure safety without overregulation – the federal government for the first time released a set of guidelines for self-driving cars.
Former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook, an advocate of tougher oversight of vehicle safety, said on Tuesday the agency should not just issue voluntary guidance to govern self-driving cars.
The federal government is striking the right balance between safety and regulation, said Karl Brauer, a senior editor at Kelley Blue Book. Not only would that depart from existing practice that has served consumers admirably, but it also effectively would grant the federal government a veto over new technology.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the agency is pushing ahead with the autonomous vehicle framework because the safety benefits outweigh the risks. It outlined a “safety assessment” for vehicle makers, which will be asked to provide documentation and information covering topics such as object detection and anti-hacking.
Currently, the policy asks for automakers to voluntarily submit the safety assessment, but NHTSA is aiming to make it mandatory through the regulatory process.
Uber is testing self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh. Through the first six months of this year, estimates show a 9% jump in motor vehicle deaths, according the National Safety Council.
An outline of current Department of Transportation (DOT) regulatory tools for accelerating the “safe development” of HAVs, such as interpreting current rules to allow for greater flexibility in design and providing limited exemptions to allow for testing of nontraditional vehicle designs in a more timely fashion.
In a nutshell, the federal government will be responsible for regulating the vehicles themselves and the technology driving them, while states are tasked with testing and certifying drivers, determining rules regarding insurance and liability, and registering the self-driving vehicles. But the guidelines have remained more open and broad than the typical safety standards applied to traditional, human-driven vehicles.
The era in which self-driving cars are dominant is not far away as one would think, already there have been demands to implement rules for self-driving cars so as to bring them to the roadway as safely as possible. Data isn’t now collected industrywide. New regulations for NHTSA more of an ever-evolving framework for the new, novel ideas, along with ways to beef up or evolve current regulatory tools. The assessment examines several areas of performance, such as cybersecurity concerns, how the auto reacts to and recovers from system failures, ethics dilemmas, post-crash sharing of data with the NHTSA, and much more. It says it will retain and use its authority to recall semi-autonomous and fully autonomous vehicles that it deems to be unsafe. “It is a first of its kind, taking us from the horseless carriage to the driverless vehicle”, Foxx told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
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A fatal crash in May involving a Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) sedan highlighted the challenges for regulators. The system can brake when it spots obstacles and keep cars in their lanes.
