Regulators scramble to stay ahead of self-driving cars
Fast-growing thicket of rules could get tangled, cause delays
Self-driving cars are only starting to navigate the nation’s streets, but regulators are scrambling to catch up.
In the race to deliver cars that can safely operate themselves, proponents are increasingly concerned about a fast-growing thicket of regulations and laws being proposed by states that could come in conflict with each other and threaten to hold up development.
“It could be messier, and it could take longer than we want it to,” IHS Automotive analyst Stephanie Brinley says. “We will see some state-by-state and some federal fights happening.”
Some believe the federal government must step in to create a national standard pertaining to testing, crash liability and design requirements.
Even if it eventually does, states and some cities insist they have a role to play, both to protect their citizens and to create legal frameworks that help position them as leaders in driverless car innovation. Much is at stake. Self-driving cars are likely to disrupt business models, substantially reduce personal car ownership, reshape urban and suburban development, upend the insurance business and eviscerate millions of transportation jobs while creating others. Disruption on that scale could represent one of the most dynamic changes to the American economy in the 21st century.
To try to keep up, more than 50 bills have been introduced in 20 states over the past several months providing some degree of regulation on self-driving cars.
Twenty-two states have either passed legislation related to autonomous vehicles or adopted regulations through a governor’s executive order. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
The patchwork of rules being created by states could play havoc, confusing owners of selfdriving cars and potentially harming innovation.
“If you had 50 different requirements for 50 different states, each state (might do it) different,” said Chan Lieu, an adviser to the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, whose members include former Google driverless car project Waymo, automakers Ford and Volvo and ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft. Under those conditions, “it’s going to be very, very difficult to build a vehicle to be effectively sold across the country.”
On the other hand, proponents of states’ rights and safety advocates argue that state governments are more nimble than the federal bureaucracy, which can take years to propose and implement new rules. The federal timeline might not be compatible with the rapid pace of self-driving car innovation.
Traditionally, the federal government has regulated the vehicle itself, while states have regulated driver behavior.
With autonomous vehicle technology changing quickly, no one knows how the cars will evolve. As a result, it’s important to develop regulations that are adaptive and flexible, said Nidhi Kalra, an autonomous vehicle expert and co-director of RAND’s Center for Decision Making Under Uncertainty.
States are balancing a desire to be viewed as beacons of innovation while also seeking to protect their residents from technology that remains unproved on a large scale.
“That has been our challenge since Day One,” said Jessica Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has proposed revised rules in a state home to several tech giants that are developing self-driving car technology, such as Google, Apple, Uber and Tesla. “We know this technology can save lives. It can mean mobility for millions of people. So we see all the advantages to it, but at the same time we’re tasked with making sure this technology is safe.”
In March, California regulators introduced a pathway to obtain permits for driverless car testing after initially signaling last year that it would require a steering wheel and brake pedals in all test vehicles. That shift pleased automakers and the tech industry, which were concerned about the effect on Silicon Valley’s booming self-driving car business.
“Obviously we don’t want to see a patchwork either,” Gonzalez said. “Ideally you want to see a car driving from California to New York without having to change requirements along the way.”
In New York, the biggest obstacle to self-driving cars had been a four-decade-old law that required drivers to have at least one hand on the wheel while their vehicle is in motion. The law made it impossible for self-driving advocates to try out the new technology on busy streets.
But in late April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo stepped in and set aside the one-hand-on-the-wheel law to allow for a one-year pilot program that gives self-driving companies access to New York roadways for the first time. New York began accepting applications from companies interested in testing or demonstrating autonomous vehicles on public roads in May, and Audi was the first to receive approval.
While states weigh action, pro- ponents of self-driving cars fret over the prospect the federal government won’t seize its constitutional authority to pre-empt state laws and set regulations.
Three senators unveiled a broad set of principles for bipartisan federal legislation on selfdriving vehicles June 13 aimed at fostering innovation. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said he expects legislation will be introduced in the coming weeks that will propose “a complete rewrite of federal regulations for motor vehicles when you take the driver out of the car.”
“The self-driving car will not have a brake pedal and will not have a steering wheel. So what does that mean for the whole regulatory framework?” Peters said. “Those are the kinds of issues we have been working through.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, under the Obama administration, introduced guidelines on self-driving vehicle development in 2016.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said earlier this month in Detroit that the Trump administration will unveil revised self-driving guidelines within the next few months that will replace the existing guidelines.
“The department has a role to play by ensuring the safe development, testing and deployment of automated vehicle technologies,” Chao said. “The department is reviewing and updating this policy to incorporate feedback and improvements recommended by numerous stakeholders.”
Chao has vowed to move quickly, but safety often moves slowly. Congress in 2008 instructed the Department of Transportation to implement a new standard by 2011 requiring automakers to adopt rearview cameras. After numerous delays, the rule was issued in 2014, but it won’t take effect until 2018.
Automakers are moving faster. They expect to deliver their first mostly autonomous vehicles within four years.
“The U.S. still runs the risk of slowing down the development and introduction of autonomous driving technologies by making it difficult for carmakers to test, develop, certify and sell” selfdriving cars, said Anders Karrberg, Volvo’s vice president of government affairs.
“It could be messier, and it could take longer than we want it to. We will see some ... fights happening.” Stephanie Brinley, IHS Automotive