Last year, the Obama administration laid the groundwork for guidelines surrounding autonomous vehicles, though details and specifics were far from ironed out. The Trump administration is now gearing up to make its own mark on the regulations.
Reuters reports US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the department will revisit and revise the vague guidelines and regulations currently in place. “The pressure is mounting for the federal government to do something,” Chao said
Still, specifics are unknown at this point, but it’s likely the revisions will fall in line with the administration’s deregulation strategy. Though, there isn’t much to deregulate at this point—the framework, again, is pretty loose.
The Federal Automated Vehicles Policy includes a 15-point assessment for automakers to use in order to bring a self-driving car to public roads. The loose regulations allow for each state to implement its own laws and regulations. States like California and Michigan have embraced the potential for driverless cars with legislations and friendly environments. GM has been testing autonomous Bolt EVs in California with its Cruise Automation subsidiary and will begin testing them in Michigan this year, too.
The Trump administration also plans to review emission and fuel economy regulations, which may potentially relax standards for automakers. However, companies will likely continue to push ahead with efficient powertrains and technologies in a global market.
Comments
Maybe he should revisit prison.
How about that Comey testimony today, Sean? Libtards left-wingers collapsed once again in their hate-filled propaganda against a democratic election.
No amount of propaganda/”articles” are going to change the fact the President Trump won and Hillary lost. Or that Hitlery will never be president…ever. Time to move on, Sean…The election is over, no amount of whining and spinning the facts are going to change the fact that the Democrats were humiliated…Even your own state of Michigan voted Trump, union members too.
Sean, you are exactly why the American public hate the media and dont trust them. You think writing for a “car” site is a chance to spin facts, lie, and push your extreme political agenda. Sorry, but the American people have finally wisened up to this…Keep doing what you are doing and President Trump will be re-elected with ease. I hope you are not that stupid.
Thank God for President Trump. MAGA!
You are thanking the wrong God!
“’Learn to do right. Seek justice. Defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.’
– Donald Trump, reading scripture from his teleprompter to an audience at the annual Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, June 8, 2017
Hey chill out. This is a serious issue worth hashing out with the same civility as we would face to face in a bar over a round or two…like our forefathers did before typing replaced talking. Let’s assume we are all good people. I’ll give you my liberal, scientist, tech loving, free thinker viewpoint here. I respect and listen to yours as well.
Fact. When comes to transport, regulation is a side show compared to insurance and cost. In order to insure a computer/robotic/internet driven car or truck, the industry will likely require a demonstration that the system is not only equal in terms of safety to human drivers, but SUPERIOR. Parity is nearly impossible to prove or defend in a court of law. But once superior safety is proven, it will quickly become much more expensive for the average person enjoy the “luxury” of risking driving oneself.
So 5-10 years hence, imagine instead of debating whether auto stop/stop should have a defeat button, figure we will be debating whether auto-drive has a defeat button. You can be sure you’ll need to get into the Caddy in order to get that defeat button….or perhaps driving will be relegated to a hobby one does at a track. Do we want this?
There is lot of money available NOW to develop and create driverless cars primarily because of market forces: huge efficiency/profit to be made primarily by eliminating costly human drivers (e.g. jobs, millions of them).
Consider also the bigger picture impact on our basic freedom to move around. To self determine. Consider the vulnerability that even today’s connected cars creates for bad actors or bad outcomes to really mess things up. Like other new tech (AI, epigenetics, financial engineering) we need to start to ask ourselves if we should allow unfettered market forces to drive the invention of this stuff without some guardrails and principles around it.
So as much as we’ve all grown up in a time when regulations seem stifle growth and freedom, we are moving into a time when economic growth is coming mainly in the form of disruptive Big Data, AI, and biotech. Regulation ma the only thing that can preserve the very notion of a “middle class”, our basic way of life, human freedom, dignity etc.
Obama admin. laid the ground work huh, just like they ramrodded healthcare through and hosed everyone. I think for that reason alone it needs to be looked at with a different set of eyes.