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TECHNOLOGY Monday 13 March 2017

Driver-optional cars: Once-reluctant California opens a road

JUSTIN PRITCHARD
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cars
with no steering wheel,
no pedals and nobody at
all inside could be driving
themselves on California
roads by the end of the
year, under proposed state
rules that would give a
powerful boost to the fast-
developing technology.
For the past several years,
tech companies and auto-
makers have been testing
self-driving car prototypes
in neighborhoods and on
freeways. But regulators in-
sisted those vehicles have
steering wheels, pedals
and human backup drivers
who could take over in an
emergency.
On Friday, the state’s De-
partment of Motor Vehi-
cles proposed regulations
that would open the way
for truly driverless cars.
Under the rules, road-test-
ing of such vehicles could
begin by the end of 2017, This May 18, 2016, file photo shows a Google self-driving car on display at Google’s I/O conference in Mountain View, Calif.
and a limited number Associated Press
could become available
to customers as early as
2018 — provided the fed- A year ago, Waymo re-
eral government gives per- on self-driving cars. its technology is road- Meanwhile, some compa-
mission. The proposed regulations ready, it can put its cars nies want more. ported that during the
424,331 miles its cars had
Current federal automobile amount to the most de- on the market as long as The Association of Global
standards require steering tailed regulatory frame- federal officials agree. That Automakers, which repre- driven themselves, a hu-
man driver intervened 11
wheels, though the U.S. work of any state. They are self-certification approach sents a dozen manufactur-
Transportation Department subject to a comment pe- mirrors how federal officials ers, said the proposal would times to avoid a collision.
In an update earlier this
has encouraged self-driv- riod and a public hearing regulate standard cars, establish “significant barri-
ing technology and could and could change. Regu- and represents a big vic- ers that do not exist in other year, Waymo said its fleet
had driven 636,868 miles in
look favorably on real- lators hope to put them tory for such major players states and are inconsistent
world pilot projects. into effect by December. as Waymo, Google’s self- with federal guidance.” autonomous mode. It did
not say how many crash-
While a few other states The proposal is more than driving car project. The technology is develop-
have welcomed testing, two years overdue, reflect- A Waymo spokesman had ing quickly. More than a es were avoided through
driver intervention.
the proposal released Fri- ing complex questions of no immediate comment. year ago, a Waymo proto-
day is a major step for- safety and technology. The chief skeptic of type with no steering wheel How a lack of human
backup will affect crash
ward, given California’s Self-driving systems rely on the technology, California- or pedals drove a blind
size as the most populous highly advanced sensors based Consumer Watch- man on city streets in Texas. frequency remains to be
seen. Under the proposed
state, its clout as the na- and software. dog, said the proposal Supporters say the cars
tion’s biggest car market “We don’t want to race does not protect the pub- may one day be far safer regulations, driverless cars
still must be remotely moni-
and its longtime role as a to meet a deadline,” said lic. than those with humans
cultural trendsetter. Bernard Soriano, a leader The DMV “is being seduced at the wheel, since the tored and able to pull itself
over safely in an emergen-
“California has taken a big of the motor vehicle agen- by the hype from the self- machinery won’t drive dis-
step. This is exciting,” said cy’s self-driving program. driving car developers,” tracted, drunk or drowsy. cy.
In all, 27 companies have
Bryant Walker Smith, a law “We want to get this right.” the nonprofit group’s John During road-testing in Cali-
professor at the Univer- In one important change Simpson said. “There’s fornia, self-driving cars are Department of Motor Ve-
hicles permits to test on
sity of South Carolina who from prior drafts, once a been a rolling back of sen- believed to have caused
tracks government policy manufacturer declares sible safety provisions.” just a few collisions. California roads.q