POLICY TRANSPORTATION The first federal guidelines for self-driving cars are coming tomorrow

The Department of Transportation is planning to publish the first-ever federal guidelines on how to regulate the deployment of self-driving cars tomorrow. The guidelines, which will appear on the DOT’s website, are the government’s first attempt at addressing both safety concerns over self-driving technology, as well as the concerns of companies like #Uber and #Tesla that are eager to get the fast-moving technology into the hands of consumers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and DOT crafted the guidelines based in part on public feedback after a series of hearings. There, representatives for the companies that are aggressively investing both time and money into developing self-driving technology emphasized the need for a consistent set of national laws on how to deploy the highly automated vehicles, rather than a plethora of confusing state laws. "The worst possible scenario for the growth of self-driving vehicles is an inconsistent patchwork of laws," Robert Grant, Lyft’s director of government relations, said during his testimony at a NHTSA public hearing in April. "Regulations are necessary, but regulatory restraint and consistency is equally important if we’re to allow this technology to reach its full potential."
http://www.recode.net/2016/9/19/12981404/self-driving-regulations-dot-anthony-foxx-nhtsa?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTTJVMk9UazBOVGswTmpSbSIsInQiOiI2dHAwdjRWVnVhWTZWMG05WEtvU2RwK2w3RytBdWNyc253cXE2UTJLUkNhU2l4VnB2RVRPcHJhTlV5a2lrd1gwcFdFUzFTS1M5cld3VmU3MVdCTjVkR0lqOGpicmFcL3VRUFd5Qys5OWtKUk09In0%3D