US signals backing for self-driving vehicles
FEDERAL auto safety regulators on Monday made it official: They are betting the nation’s highways will be safer with more cars driven by machines and not people.
In long-awaited guidelines for the booming industry of automated vehicles, the Obama a dministra t i on pr om i s e d st rong sa fet y oversig ht, but sent a clear signal to automakers t hat t he door was wide open for driverless cars.
“We envision in the future, you can take your hands off the wheel, and your commute becomes restful or productive instead of frustrating and exhausting,” said Jeffrey Zients, director of the National Economic Council, adding that highly automated vehicles “will save time, money and lives”.
The statements were the most aggressive signal yet by US reg- ulators that they see automated car technology as a win for safety. Yet having officially endorsed the fast-evolving technology, regulators must now balance the commercial interests of companies including Tesla, Google and Uber with concerns over public safety, especially in light of recent crashes involving semiautonomous cars.
The policies unveiled were designed to walk that line. In a joint appearance, Zients and Anthony Foxx, secretary of the US Transportation Department, released guidelines that outlined safety expectations and encouraged uniform rules for the nascent technology. The instructions signalled to motorists that automated vehicles would not be a wild west where companies can try anything without oversight, but were also vague enough that automakers and tech companies would not fear overregulation.
The guidelines on Monday targeted four main areas: a 15-point safety standard for the design and development of autonomous vehicles; called for states to come up with uniform policies; clarified how current regulations can be applied to driverless cars; and opened the door for new regulations on the technology.
The 15-point safety assessment covers a range of issues, including how driverless cars should react if their technology fails, what measures to put in place to preserve passenger privacy, and how occupants will be protected in crashes. The points also include how automakers should approach the digital security of driverless vehicles, and how a car can communicate with passengers and other road users.
Driverless and semiautonomous cars have hit the open roads, forcing regulators to keep up. Tesla, the electric-car maker, has sold tens of thousands of cars with a self-driving feature known as Autopilot. The company has been grappling with the fallout from the death in May of a driver in Florida who had the car’s Autopilot on, as well as a report last week of another crash in China where the technology was apparently turned on.
Tesla plans as soon as this week to download new software to its cars. The company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has said that the new software will include improvements to Autopilot that could have avoided the fatal accident in May.
Uber, the ride-hailing giant, began trials in Pittsburgh last week to let its most loyal customers order rides from driverless cars through their smartphone app. Google has been testing self-driving cars in its hometown Mountain View, California, and rivals including Apple are also exploring similar technology.
Karl Brauer, senior editor at Kelley Blue Book, an auto research and valuation company, said the new guidelines strike a balance between ensuring safety as automakers develop self-driving cars and making sure the introduction of lifesaving technology is not delayed unnecessarily.
“We are in this weird transition,” Brauer said.
“It’s a tough balance for the regulators. You want to get this technology out, but you don’t want to move too quickly.”