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US Department of Transportation Updates Autonomous Car Rules (engadget.com)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has released a report called "Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0," which includes a new set of voluntary guidelines for automated driving systems. According to Engadget, the report "outlines additional safety principles, updates policy and offers guidance to state and local governments." From the report: The report notes that it's meant to be an update to, but not a replacement of, last year's guidance, and it encourages those developing automated driving systems to make public their Voluntary Safety Self-Assessments, which were introduced in last year's report. It also updates the list of best practices for state and local governments considering automated vehicle testing and operation. The agency also takes measures to clarify its policies and roles in regards to autonomous technology implementation. First, it's doing away with the Automated Vehicle Proving Grounds announced last year -- a list of 10 self-driving test sites that were eligible for federal funding. The DOT said that due to the "rapid increase in automated vehicle testing activities in many locations, there is no need for U.S. DOT to favor particular locations."
Additionally, the agency is working on updating language and regulations that it said unintentionally hamper automated vehicle progress. It will adapt its definitions of "driver" and "operator" to reflect that they no longer always refer to humans and can encompass automated systems. The DOT also announced a future notice of proposed rulemaking that will suggest exceptions to certain safety standards that apply only to human drivers -- such as pedals, brakes, mirrors and steering wheels -- for automated systems.
Additionally, the agency is working on updating language and regulations that it said unintentionally hamper automated vehicle progress. It will adapt its definitions of "driver" and "operator" to reflect that they no longer always refer to humans and can encompass automated systems. The DOT also announced a future notice of proposed rulemaking that will suggest exceptions to certain safety standards that apply only to human drivers -- such as pedals, brakes, mirrors and steering wheels -- for automated systems.
Imagine being able to import certain banned cars "upgraded to use automated systems" using this loophole.
Voluntary guidelines != Rules
Death by SDC.
Section 1 Paragraph 1:
Try real hard not to kill people. We're not exactly saying it's completely against the rules, but we really want you to try super hard not to kill anyone.
Because an accident in an self-driving car is a product design problem that could be highly lucrative legally, rather than a charge against one person's insurance, I predict that artificially creating accidents will become a hobby for scammers. People will dash into the street in front of one from between parked cars, hoping to just be grazed. They will make oddball turns at intersection, trying to fool SDC detection systems. They will exploit whatever edge cases they can find in marginal weather. They will play "fastest brakes in the West" at intersections, knowing that the law is totally un the side of the stopped car in rear-end collisions.
Elon went off the rails again on twitter and the stock is collapsing again. And this is Rei's hero?
Death by Human driven cars.
Often due to carelessness, negligence, and/or incompetence.
Sometimes due to the inherent fallibility of the human driver.
... to see how well all these American autonomous vehicles behave overseas. For starters, most countries in the world drive on the left side of the road.
robbing self driving trucks as well!
Nothing says we mean business like 'voluntary'.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So long as the verbiage includes the phrase 'voluntary', it is meaningless bullshit. This tech will likely never work unless confined to carefully conttolled areas. So what's next? FORCING us all to accept carefully controlled areas en masse? That sounds an awful lot like the policy of dead totatalitarians. The real question: why are millennials so gullible and stupid? Oh , that's right, their parents raised them believing that the world sprang into existence at the time of their births. Give me a break. Too many of us see through you at this point, Silicon Valley, and we aren't going anywhere for another five decades. Try again.
These things are being tested in a city 300 miles away from me, and that I don't plan to visit in the near future.