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New Government Guidelines Steering Self-Driving Cars
The White House will reportedly introduce voluntary guidelines for autonomous vehicles, aimed at boosting flexibility for car and tech companies and speeding up development.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is scheduled to announce the new guidance—entitled “A Vision for Safety”—at an event in Ann Arbor, MI, where companies test self-driving cars and technologies in simulated driving environments at the University of Michigan. The new guidelines follow those from the Obama administration, which previously provided the industry with much flexibility.
The new proposals will reportedly discourage states from trying to make parts of the federal guidelines mandatory, such as a voluntary safety-assessment process. That has been a big concern for auto and tech companies in their feedback to the government on guidelines that were introduced by the Obama administration in 2016.
Many officials believe an over-restrictive approach to regulation could dim the industry’s chances of success, in part because the federal safety rule-making process can be cumbersome. The guidelines are likely to meet with criticism from consumer groups for moving further toward the industry’s position on voluntary action.
