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Maybe you’ve seen YouTube or TikTok videos: An all-electric Jaguar I-PACE sport utility vehicle picks up a passenger who hops into the back seat and starts recording the journey – marveling at the lack of a driver in the front seat.
This is a remarkable illustration of the current state of driverless technology, which has failed to represent the current state of regulatory oversight needed to make self-driving cars a common experience. Currently, states testing autonomous vehicles only have one set of rules.
“We may now have the technology to develop self-driving cars, but [federal] The government isn’t ready for them yet, and probably never will be,” said Walter E. Block, professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans.
Waymo, whose parent company Alphabet also owns Google, has operated a driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco since August for a small number of residents known as “trusted testers.” Phoenix, Arizona, including a human in the driver’s seat.
In Arizona, startup TuSimple’s self-driving tow trailers have completed a successful 80-mile test drive between a Tucson railroad and a Phoenix distribution center.
Elsewhere in San Francisco, Waymo and GM Cruise are offering an autonomous taxi service with a safety driver behind the wheel under a permit that allows them to collect fares.
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Still, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) description in the FAQ section of its website reads: “There are currently no fully automated or ‘self-driving’ vehicles for sale. Every vehicle currently for sale in the United States requires the full attention of the driver at all times for safe operation.”
Industry analysts say widespread adoption of automated driving systems has been delayed in part due to safety concerns.
A self-driving Uber killed a 49-year-old woman while crossing a street in Tempe, Arizona, in 2018. The security driver of the car, accused of manslaughter, was watching a television show.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 37 accidents occurred in Uber self-driving cars months prior to the incident, and automatic vehicle accidents continued despite technological advances.
Joe Young, director of media relations at the Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), said it was wise for regulators to go slow because of the financial liability involved.
“The self-driving car of the future has been touted as the answer to highway safety because these vehicles probably won’t make the mistakes that humans do, but IIHS researchers have raised questions about this claim,” said Mr Young. email.
The nonprofit IIHS has recently published safety recommendations and a safety rating program to support automated vehicle designs, which Mr. Young says “engage the active involvement of drivers when they need to take over.”
“If driver preference and safety are in conflict, safety will need to win to achieve the greatest safety advantage. Otherwise, these vehicles may make the same deliberate decisions as speeding that often result in accidents,” he said.
Millions of Americans already drive partially automated cars, which engineers from General Motors, Audi, Google, Ford and Tesla have equipped with cameras to stay centered in their lane and avoid collisions during cruise control.
But even these commercial vehicles have had problems, including all models of Elon Musk’s Tesla that federal regulators are investigating to ignore safety concerns.
Not responding to a request for comment, Tesla has recalled Model X, S and Y electric cars 15 times since January 2021. The recalls include violations of federal engine safety standards and software issues “including full self-driving” software that allows vehicles to pass through stop signs without stopping.
Tara Andringa, managing director of the nonprofit Automated Vehicle Education Partners, said these problems are the reason why no American driver will be able to buy a fully self-driving car in 2022.
“All vehicles available for purchase today, even those with advanced driver assistance technology, need a careful human driver behind the wheel at all times,” said Ms. Andringa.
Even between states with pilot programs for self-driving cars on public roads, laws differ.
“Some states require a safety driver in these vehicles, and some states have begun issuing permits for pilots and driverless deployments in certain areas,” Ms Andringa said.
Some automakers, including Audi and Hyundai, have equipped all their vehicle models with partially automated driving systems as part of a backlog to sell fully self-driving cars.
“We hope to present the production version of the Audi grandsphere concept car in 2025, but the infrastructure, the legal framework, etc.,” said Dahncke, director of product and innovation communications for Audi of America.
Hyundai Motor America spokesman Miles Johnson said the company’s Motional joint venture with Aptiv will upgrade all production models to Level 3 automation from this year, with Level 4 being tested in South Korea.
“Hyundai’s autonomous driving vehicles will change not only personal transportation, but also our entire lifestyles,” said Mr Johnson.
To improve recognition accuracy, Hyundai is adding cameras and a next-generation integrated controller to its cars as it moves towards a customizable “Purpose Vehicle” with self-driving technology.
Government regulators are moving more slowly.
At the federal level, NHTSA regulates vehicle safety and equipment. On September 26, it will begin enforcing a new occupant protection rule for automated driving systems.
The rule requires “the same high level of occupant protection” as conventional vehicles and does not allow automated vehicles without a steering wheel, driver’s seat or driver controls.
In an email, NHTSA said self-driving cars need more research and testing “before a safety standard can be developed.”
“Certain advanced driver assistance features can improve safety by helping drivers avoid collisions and mitigate the severity of collisions that do occur, but as with all technologies and equipment in motor vehicles, drivers must use them properly,” NHTSA told The Times.
Meanwhile, state legislatures and governors regulate which vehicles can be driven on U.S. roads and have chosen different approaches to self-driving testing and deployment.
The National State Legislature Conference maintains an online database of auto vehicle bills introduced in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Piece by piece bills tried to address issues such as emissions standards and road test permits.
“Autonomous vehicles appear poised to transform and disrupt many of the fundamental, longstanding foundations of the American transportation system,” he says at the conference.
Marc Scribner, a senior transportation policy analyst at the Libertarian Reason Foundation, says it will “necessarily take years” for government officials to allow self-driving cars.
“If the federal government does not fulfill its motor vehicle regulation responsibilities, states may seek to fulfill these duties,” Mr. Scribner said.
“This risks creating a business of patching state laws that will make it harder for developers to trade their products and services for interstate commerce, raise costs, limit access, and ultimately give up security benefits,” he added.
In January 2021, the Ministry of Transport published a Comprehensive Automated Vehicles Plan, promising to “modernize the regulatory environment” and “prepare the transportation system” for self-driving cars.
Michael Warder, a financial advisor at Warder Consultancy in California, said courts will need to clarify liability issues as states become “labs of democracy” with conflicting laws.
“The last thing I want to see is Pete Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation to issue any statement or regulation for self-driving cars,” said Mr Warder. “Traffic law is primarily a state matter.”
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