Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Senate Panel Approves Self-Driving Car Legislation (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fast-lane dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill to speed self-driving cars to market without human controls and bar states from imposing regulatory road blocks. The bill still must be approved by the full Senate. The U.S. House passed a similar version last month unanimously. General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Ford Motor Co and others have lobbied for the landmark legislation. Despite some complaints from Republicans, the Senate bill does not speed approval of self-driving technology for large commercial trucks after labor unions raised safety and employment concerns. The measure, the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would allow automakers to win exemptions from current safety rules that prohibit vehicles without human controls. States could still set rules on registration, licensing, liability, insurance and safety inspections, but not performance standards.

6 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Unions by JBMcB · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because of unions. Next question?

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
  2. Re:All I need to Know... by gweihir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Accidents happen all the time. The only thing needed for this to be a good idea is less average damage to people in accidents with self-driving cars than in human-controlled ones. That should not be hard to achieve...

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. No commercial truck provisions? by Dorianny · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is stupid, long-haul trucking is the industry that would benefit most from self-driving vehicles and it is also one of the easier challenges for the auto-industry. You can expect many states to start throwing roadblocks disguised as safety concerns that are meant to delay roll-out for the purpose of "saving jobs"

    1. Re:No commercial truck provisions? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is stupid, long-haul trucking is the industry that would benefit most from self-driving vehicles and it is also one of the easier challenges for the auto-industry.

      It is not time to have fully automated class 8 trucks driving around. They are just too big and thus too dangerous. Normally sized vehicles are dangerous enough. Give it a few more years, and you'll see similar legislation for heavy trucks.

      It is also not easier to do self-driving trucks, because they have to be able to handle all the same situations that self-driving cars have to be able to handle. Or have you never seen a person or a deer running across a freeway? How about stuff sitting in the road, like a cardboard box, chunk of a tire, mattress, stack of lumber, scissor jack, bag of trash, burning vehicle, half a deer, jumper cables, a rock the size of my head, a wheel with a tire, or a wheel without a tire? How's about stuff flying above the road, like a plastic bag floating every which way, a goose taking off, or a vulture taking off trailing a disintegrating "mass" (I use the term loosely) of roadkill? These are all things I've seen on the freeway, except the goose. The moment you take the human out of the truck, or even take the human's eyes off of the road, the truck has to be able to deal with all of that stuff, and more.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. Re:All I need to Know... by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People like you who don't have the education or direct experience working with the specific technology in this case are not in any way shape or form qualified to be commenting on how safe or beneficial it'll be. You're just one more bobble-head believing and agreeing with the nonsensical hype you're being spoon-fed about this. The FACT of the matter is this isn't even real "AI" to start with, it's shitty half-assed "machine learning" crap, and at current it has to 'phone home' to have a remote HUMAN operator take over from it when it runs into something it can't handle. This reveals it to be a PIECE OF SHIT that should not be allowed on public roads. There will be traffic problems because of this garbage, there will be DEATHS that need not have occurred and that nobody will be held responsible for. DO NOT WANT!

    Similar logical fallacy, circa 1900, used by folks wanting to demonize the horseless carriage.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  5. Insurance? by thedarb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If I'm not driving it, it should only need to be insured against damage caused by others. If it causes an accident, that's the manufacturers liability, not mine, as I wasn't driving it. If it's any way made to be my liability, I'm not going to buy it. I'd rather hire a self driving taxi than own the liability of my own self driving car.

    --
    This sig intentionally left blank.