The Department of Transportation wants to encourage manufacturers to show how their technology is validated and how they will share data collected by their vehicles.Model State Policy: “Delineates the federal and state roles for the regulation of highly automated vehicle technologies as part of an effort to build a consistent national framework of laws to govern self-driving vehicles”.
Advertisement
Therefore, the Secretary of Transportation of the United States, Anthony Foxx, has unveiled the outlines of a 15-point plan that aims to promote road safety through autonomous driving technology. During the week of September 12, Uber rolled out its first fleet of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh.
“You can’t get locked into one technology or approach, and it doesn’t seem like they are doing that here”, said Brad Stertz, director of government affairs at Audi of America, the German automaker’s United States arm. The agency said that semi-autonomous driving systems that fail to account for distracted or inattentive drivers may be subject to recall.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with NHTSA and other federal and state policymakers to further develop the national framework for safe and timely deployment that avoids a patchwork of requirements that could inhibit self-driving vehicle development and operations”, the coalition said. NHTSA now sets safety rules, automakers certify that vehicles meet them and NHTSA steps in after they are sold if a defect is discovered.
The new guidelines are focused in four main areas: the creation of a safety standard for the design and development of autonomous vehicles; the creation of industry-wide, uniform policies applying to driverless cars; clarification of how current regulations should be applied to self-driving cars; and the development and implementation of new regulations on self-driving technology. The DMV is planning to release revised rules “in the coming weeks”, according to an official statement, which also mentioned that the agency is soliciting comments at a public workshop October 20 in Sacramento.
In an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, President Barack Obama praised the benefits of self-driving cars. How will the government, both local and federal, handle a line of cars that essentially drive themselves? The new NHTSA recommendations make it clear the agency does not believe a steering wheel would be necessary in cars equipped with artificial intelligence capable of operating in the same way a human would, a senior Transportation Department official said. Search engine giant Google is developing self-driving cars targeting those who can not drive, while ride-sharing company Uber is testing its self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh as a taxi service. But NHTSA figures also show that the number of fatalities in accidents where distracted driving-the result of, say, texting on a cell phone or fiddling with the auto stereo-was cited as a reason have risen by 8.8 percent year-on-year, from 3,197 to 3,477. More than 90 percent of driving-related incidents are attributable to human error. The person requested anonymity because the guidelines had not yet been made public.
California is drafting additional autonomous vehicle regulations that include a proposal to require a licensed driver who is certified to intervene should an autonomous vehicle malfunction.
“The quickest way to slam the brakes on innovation is for the public to lose confidence in the safety of new technologies”.
For instance, manufacturers must address how and where a highly automated vehicle is supposed to function and operate; how robust and responsive the vehicle is in the event of a system failure; what the protections are for occupants in crash situations; how the vehicles will address conflict dilemmas on the road; and how the vehicles will comply with traffic laws.
The agency is now investigating Tesla Motors’ “Autopilot” system after it was engaged during a fatal crash in Florida earlier this year.
Advertisement
President Obama doubled downon driverless cars this week, declaring that the federal government, not the states, should oversee the development of self-driving cars, trucks and buses.
