Self-driving car advocates say feds should set safety rules
Federal auto safety and standards regulators should set rules governing selfdriving cars — not state agencies that may not have the technological know-how to assess the rapidly evolving technology.
That was the message delivered to federal administrators Wednesday by Chris Urmson, the chief architect of Google’s 7-yearold autonomous car program.
Urmson was one of a variety of auto experts speaking at a Stanford University forum organized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is soliciting comments as it aims to establish guidelines this summer for companies developing autonomous cars.
The event took place the day after Google announced it was part of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a lobbying group of autonomous-car focused companies that includes Ford, Lyft, Uber and Volvo. The group is led by former NHTSA administrator David Strickland.
Strickland will lobby his former agency, which has been tasked by Department of Transportation head Anthony Foxx with creating the rules.
Last fall, concern over a lack of such guidelines led Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson to caution that “the absence of one set of rules means carmakers cannot conduct credible tests to develop cars that meet all the different guidelines of all 50 U.S. states.”
Google’s Urmson told those gathered at the public meeting that his company has watched “15 states propose bespoke laws over the last 12 months, all of which have a different scope and different definitions. Vehicle-safety standards are not the expertise of the states, and expecting them to take on this role will only lead to inconsistent safety requirements. ... We would like NHTSA to be the expert authority for the nation on this issue.”
Google cars have logged more than a million miles in testing in Kirkland, Wash.; Phoenix; Austin; and around the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
The company’s interest in having a federal agency take charge is set against the backdrop of draft legislation proposed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles that could require all self-driving cars operating on public roads in the state to be equipped with a steering wheel and pedals.
Though Google’s fleet of selfdriving Lexus SUVs has them, the company’s prototype two-person people mover would lack both in a production version.
Self-driving car technology is maturing at a rapid pace, thanks to tech and auto companies alike pushing hard into the space. For the most part, what’s being developed is an array of driver-assist technology that takes over on certain tasks.
For autonomous cars to become a national phenomenon there has to be a cohesive set of rules and regulations, or a selfdriving car leaving one state could suddenly find itself banned in the next.