The United States House of Representatives released its early draft of self-driving car framework earlier this month and it would mean more federal government control and less say from individual states.
Reuters reports the self-driving car plan would diminish states’ rights and limit what a particular state could regulate with regards to autonomous cars and their rollout. California and New York have proposed legislation to initially limit the roll out of driverless cars and associated technology.
The federal plan would represent a victory for companies like General Motors and even tech giants like Alphabet’s Waymo unit and it also would make the National Highway Traffic and Safety Association the de facto regulator for self-driving cars with more power than state agencies.
States would still be able to control and set insurance and registration rules, but autonomous technology regulation would be off limits, only to be reviewed by the federal government. An interesting portion of the proposal would also classify crash data and other testing information from autonomous cars as “confidential business information.”
General Motors has deployed a fleet of autonomous Chevrolet Bolt EVs in a handful of states including California, Arizona and Michigan. The automaker has also been lobbying for relaxed regulations to test future driverless technology on public roads. Michigan has emerged as a very self-driving car-friendly state in the process.
Comments
On one hand it makes sense to have one set standard but do you want the federal goverment to have that much control on you movement and transportation.
I feel that to set standards they should turn to SAE to set industry standards and regulations on these vehicles.
Let’s face it they are the ones who standardized much of the auto industry and how it operates in building and driving vehicles.
On the other hand, having multiple (possibly conflicting) standards that the automakers need to comply with will add costs unnecessarily. If the automaker chooses one standard to fit all, they could likely build to the most stringent (ie California).
While SAE doesn’t have authority to enforce law, the NHTSA does and often uses SAE input for their rules and standards. So the federal approach might actually be what you’re in favor of. Leaving it up to the states doesn’t necessarily mean that SAE standards would be adopted and SAE would need to spend a lot more time to convince each state of the merits of their guidelines.