House Passes Bill To Speed Deployment of Self-driving Cars (go.com)

The House voted Wednesday to speed the introduction of self-driving cars by giving the federal government authority to exempt automakers from safety standards not applicable to the technology, and to permit deployment of up to 100,000 of the vehicles annually over the next several years. From a report: The bill was passed by a voice vote. State and local officials have said it usurps their authority by giving to the federal government sole authority to regulate the vehicles' design and performance. States would still decide whether to permit self-driving cars on their roads. Automakers have complained that a patchwork of laws states have passed in recent years would hamper deployment of the vehicles, which they see as the future of the industry. Self-driving cars are forecast to dramatically lower traffic fatalities once they are on roads in significant numbers, among other benefits. Early estimates indicate there were more than 40,000 traffic fatalities last year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 94 percent of crashes involve human error.

Comments

Re:exempt automakers from safety standards???

[fluffernutter]

You have only seen data from self driving that either A) has a human to correct for it, or B) drives only where driving is simple and straightforward. We don't know if self driving will ever be adequate for all conditions. And self driving has made progress on those dead or injured only as long as it hasn't injured or killed anyone else that wouldn't have died otherwise.