If you think working to get the technology behind autonomous cars to function flawlessly is a difficult job, try regulating a vehicle type that doesn't yet fully exist. That's what California is attempting to do, as outlined by USA Today; writing rules governing the operation of driverless cars on the state's roads. And even in the preliminary stages, it seems no one really knows where to begin.
Unlike, say, regular cars, where responsibility for accidents fall to a relatively narrow, easily defined group—driver, manufacturer, weather, or infrastructure/pedestrians—autonomous cars call into question the definition of the "driver." Does liability fall to the manufacturer? The car's computer? The driver for not reacting and taking back control of the car—and what if there isn't a driver present in the first place? These are the questions California's Department of Motor Vehicles must dip its toes into before penning the first rule.
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The DMV commission's task is made more difficult by the position of autonomous-car development today: it's a work in progress. No one currently offers a fully automated car for sale to customers, meaning California's attempting to legislate against a possible future, instead of a current reality. As one of a handful of states that allows manufacturers and other developers to test autonomous cars on its public roads, California thus faces the possibility of steering autonomous-car development with its ruleset, which as the first—preempting even the federal government—likely would form the basis for other states' directives.
Besides wading through the sticky puddle that is figuring out who might be at fault when a self-driving car is involved in an accident, the DMV also expressed concern over car owners' privacy. California law currently requires autonomous vehicles (presumably of the test variety) to log a host of data to be used later for incident reconstruction duty if an accident occurs. Unsurprisingly, the DMV's initial public hearing over the matter of self-driving car regulation was attended by several industry representatives, including one from Google. When an attendee from nonprofit Consumer Watchdog pressed Google over privacy concerns, the company's representative declined to comment.
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Interestingly, Google did pipe up over other matters of regulation, with director of safety Ron Medford positing that any form of state-run autonomous-car safety/competence/performance certification was unnecessary and could overcomplicate things. His solution? Companies could "self-certify" their rides. Now, we can understand a hesitation against regulation if it places excessive cost or logistical burdens on manufacturers, but self regulation? In light of the recently uncovered breakdown of oversight on the part of both GM and NHTSA regarding a 10-year-old deadly ignition lock issue, we'd be wary of any self-serve oversight system, not to mention the possibility for variability of "certification" standards among manufacturers.
Now, we could go on and on talking about the various dark corners of autonomous-car operation California's DMV must sift through, but we think you get the idea: the task is daunting and unprecedented. The darkest corner of the issue is, of course, determining how, with today's level of semi-autonomous capability, the transition of control from the driver to the car and back might be handled. (Our experience in an experimental, semi-autonomous Audi suggests this is area needs a lot of work.) California needs to hurry up, too. If the state wants its rules to go into effect next year, it needs to have language drafted by June and finalized by the end of the year. Other states are watching closely—and so are we, since we'll soon be sharing roads with these driverless cars.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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