In boost to self-driving cars, U.S. tells Google computers can qualify as drivers
Exclusive - In boost to self-driving cars, U.S. tells
Google computers can qualify as drivers
February 9, 2016
By David Shepardson and Paul Lienert
WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. vehicle safety
regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving
Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step
towards ultimately winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, of its decision in a previously unreported Feb.
4 letter to the company posted on the agency's website this week.
Google's self-driving car unit on Nov. 12 submitted a
proposed design for a self-driving car that has "no need for a human
driver," the letter to Google from National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration Chief Counsel Paul Hemmersbaugh said.
"NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of
Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving
system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants," NHTSA's letter said.
"We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will
not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers
during the last more than one hundred years."
Major automakers and technology companies such as Google
are racing to develop and sell vehicles that can drive themselves at least part
of the time.
All participants in the autonomous driving race complain
that state and federal safety rules are impeding testing and eventual
deployment of such vehicles. California has proposed draft rules requiring
steering wheels and a licensed driver in all self-driving cars.
Karl Brauer, senior analyst for the Kelley Blue Book
automotive research firm, said there were still significant legal questions
surrounding autonomous vehicles.
But if "NHTSA is prepared to name artificial
intelligence as a viable alternative to human-controlled vehicles, it could
substantially streamline the process of putting autonomous vehicles on the
road," he said.
If the car's computer is the driver for legal purposes,
then it clears the way for Google or automakers to design vehicle systems that
communicate directly with the vehicle's artificial pilot.
In its response to Google, the federal agency offered its
most comprehensive map yet of the legal obstacles to putting fully autonomous
vehicles on the road. It noted existing regulations requiring some auto safety
equipment cannot be waived immediately, including requirements for braking
systems activated by foot control.
"The next question is whether and how Google could
certify that the (self-driving system) meets a standard developed and designed
to apply to a vehicle with a human driver," NHTSA said.
Google is "still evaluating" NHTSA's lengthy
response, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. Google executives have said
they would likely partner with established automakers to build self-driving
cars.
WORRIES ABOUT PEOPLE UNDERMINING SAFETY
Google told NHTSA that the real danger is having auto
safety features that could tempt humans to try to take control.
Google "expresses concern that providing human
occupants of the vehicle with mechanisms to control things like steering,
acceleration, braking... could be detrimental to safety because the human
occupants could attempt to override the (self-driving system's)
decisions," the NHTSA letter stated.
NHTSA's Hemmersbaugh said federal regulations requiring
equipment like steering wheels and brake pedals would have to be formally
rewritten before Google could offer cars without those features.
For example, current federal rules require alerts on
dashboards if tire pressure runs low. NHTSA said a test would need to be
created that shows the vehicle computer is informed of the problem. NHTSA
raised the question of whether humans in the vehicles should also be made
aware.
In January, NHTSA said it may waive some vehicle safety
rules to allow more driverless cars to operate on U.S. roads as part of a
broader effort to speed up development of self-driving vehicles.
NHTSA said then it would write guidelines for
self-driving cars within six months. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said
the administration may seek new legal authority to allow deployment of
autonomous vehicles "in large numbers," when they are deemed safe,
the department said.
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