G-7 welcomes US rules on self-driving cars

Transportation officials met over the weekend in Japanese resort town of Karuizawa

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said yesterday that his counterparts in the Group of Seven nations welcomed US guidelines on regulating selfdriving cars and have agreed to work together on creating such standards to maintain safety.

“There was actually a very enthusiastic reception to the policy,” he said. “We did a good job of inventorying what each country is doing and laying out areas that we want to explore further.”

Such issues include cybersecurity, ethics and privacy, wireless spectrum questions and many other issues, he said, while noting that reaching a resolution might take years, meaning the technology would be moving faster. Foxx called the US guidelines released earlier this month the most comprehensive on autonomous vehicles, coming out ahead of the rest of the world.

Foxx and other transportation officials from the G-7 met over the weekend in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa. Speaking by telephone with The Associated Press, Foxx stressed road tests on autonomous vehicles must continue to encourage innovation.

The new US guidelines meant to bring order to are the technology’s development. Proponents say such technology can make cars safer because machines can react faster and they are less prone to human error. But even experts remain cautious.

Among the recent forays into self-driving technology are the partnership between Chinese-owned Volvo Cars and the Swedish-based automotive safety group Autoliv Inc, as well as Volvo teaming up with US ride-hailing company Uber.