Self-Driving Cars Gain Powerful Ally: The Government - Federal guidelines Issued
Self-Driving Cars Gain Powerful Ally: The Government
By CECILIA KANG SEPT. 19, 2016
Uber, the ride-hailing giant, began trials in Pittsburgh
last week using driverless technology. The government’s new guidelines for
autonomous driving will speed up the rollout of self-driving cars, experts
said. Credit Angelo Merendino/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Federal auto safety regulators on Monday
made it official: They are betting the nation’s highways will be safer with
more cars driven by machines and not people.
In long-awaited guidelines for the booming industry of
automated vehicles, the Obama administration promised strong safety oversight,
but sent a clear signal to automakers that the door was wide open for
driverless cars.
“We envision in the future, you can take your hands off
the wheel, and your commute becomes restful or productive instead of
frustrating and exhausting,” said Jeffrey Zients, director of the National
Economic Council, adding that highly automated vehicles “will save time, money
and lives.”
The statements were the most aggressive signal yet by
federal regulators that they see automated car technology as a win for auto
safety. Yet having officially endorsed the fast-evolving technology, regulators
must now balance the commercial interests of companies including Tesla, Google
and Uber with concerns over public safety, especially in light of recent
crashes involving semiautonomous cars.
The policies unveiled on Monday were designed to walk
that line. In a joint appearance, Mr. Zients and Anthony Foxx, secretary of the
United States Department of Transportation, released the first guidelines,
which outlined safety expectations and encouraged uniform rules for the nascent
technology. The instructions signaled to motorists that automated vehicles
would not be a Wild West where companies can try anything without oversight,
but were also vague enough that automakers and technology companies would not
fear overregulation.
The new guidelines on Monday, which stopped short of
official regulations, targeted four main areas. The Department of
Transportation announced a 15-point safety standard for the design and
development of autonomous vehicles; called for states to come up with uniform
policies applying to driverless cars; clarified how current regulations can be
applied to driverless cars; and opened the door for new regulations on the
technology.
Both Silicon Valley and Detroit are doubling down on
their bets for autonomous vehicles.
Tech companies and automakers are investing heavily in
self-driving technology, including Ford, Google, Volvo, Tesla and BMW, among
others.
There is a range of technologies already in use for fully
and semi-autonomous driving, including some that use lasers.
A Barclays analyst predicted recently that once
autonomous vehicles become widely used, auto sales could fall as much as 40
percent.
Proponents say autonomous driving would reduce the number
of people killed in traffic accidents. Last year, with nearly 40,000
auto-related deaths in the United States, was the deadliest since 2008.
There have been safety concerns around the budding
technology. A man was killed in May when his Tesla, in Autopilot mode, crashed
into a tractor-trailer on a Florida highway.
The 15-point safety assessment covers a range of issues,
including how driverless cars should react if their technology fails, what
measures to put in place to preserve passenger privacy, and how occupants will
be protected in crashes. The points also include how automakers should approach
the digital security of driverless vehicles, and how a car can communicate with
passengers and other road users.
The agency also urged driverless-car manufacturers to
show how their technology is validated and how they would share data collected
by the vehicles. The Department of Transportation also said it would assert its
authority to recall semiautonomous and fully autonomous vehicles that it found
to be unsafe.
But the guidelines weren’t nearly as specific as the
safety requirements imposed on standard human-driven vehicles today.
“We left some areas intentionally vague because we wanted
to outline the areas that need to be addressed and leave the rest to
innovators,” said Bryan Thomas, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration.
Driverless and semiautonomous cars have already hit the
open roads, forcing regulators to keep up. Tesla, the electric-car maker, has
sold tens of thousands of cars with a self-driving feature known as Autopilot.
The company has been grappling with the fallout from the death in May of a
Florida driver who had the car’s Autopilot on, as well as a report last week of
another crash in China where the technology was apparently turned on.
Tesla plans as soon as this week to download new software
to its cars. The company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, has said the new
software would include improvements to Autopilot that could have avoided the
fatal accident in May.
Uber, the ride-hailing giant, began trials in Pittsburgh
last week to let its most loyal customers order rides from driverless cars
through their smartphone app. Google has been testing self-driving cars in its
hometown, Mountain View, Calif., and rivals including Apple are also exploring
similar technology.
The federal government’s embrace of driverless technology
has accelerated since 2013. That year, the Obama administration waded
cautiously into driverless car safety for the first time by issuing some
definitions for the technology and pledging more safety research. By early this
year, the president had wholeheartedly taken to the technology, proposing about
$4 billion in the federal budget for driverless car research and development
over 10 years.
On Monday, President Obama published an editorial in The
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about self-driving cars, saying they could save tens of
thousands of lives a year and that the new policy is “flexible and designed to
evolve with new advances.”
Last year, there were nearly 40,000 deaths in the United
States from auto-related accidents, the deadliest for automotive-related deaths
since 2008 and the largest year-over-year percentage increase in 50 years,
according to the National Safety Council.
Karl Brauer, senior editor at Kelley Blue Book, an auto
research and valuation company, said the new guidelines struck a balance
between ensuring safety as automakers develop self-driving cars and making sure
the introduction of lifesaving technology is not delayed unnecessarily.
“We are in this weird transition,” Mr. Brauer said. “It’s
a tough balance for the regulators. You want to get this technology out, but
you don’t want to move too quickly.”
Currently, driverless cars face a patchwork of state
regulations. In the last three years, about a dozen states have introduced laws
that specifically address testing of driverless vehicles. Most laws require a
licensed driver to be in the car.
Mr. Foxx said states would continue to regulate the
licensing of drivers and insurance. But he affirmed the agency’s oversight of
the software technology used in driverless cars.
“What we are trying to do is avoid a patchwork of state
laws,” Mr. Foxx said.
The federal guidelines were welcomed by auto
manufacturers. Ford, which is targeting fully autonomous vehicles by 2021 for
ride-sharing, said in a statement that the guidance “will help establish the
basis for a national framework that enables the safe deployment of autonomous
vehicles. We also look forward to collaborating with states on areas that
complement this national framework.”
Google, Uber and Lyft, through a trade association in
which they are members, also hailed the guidelines. “State and local
governments also have complementary responsibilities and should work with the
federal government to achieve and maintain our status as world leaders in
innovation,” said David Strickland, general counsel for the trade group,
Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets.
Consumer advocates said they were encouraged that the
government’s efforts would advance safety laws and pressure companies that have
operated largely in secret. But the groups also said the guidelines might
result in weaker state laws.
“What I fear is that there are some really good state
regulations that might get tamped down or pre-empted,” said John Simpson, a
director at Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit group that has pushed for greater
federal enforcement of the industry.
Over all, the government’s endorsement will speed up the
rollout of autonomous cars, experts said, potentially within the next five
years.
“It helps companies by providing some cover. If a car
crashes, courts may look to these guidelines to help us determine what was
reasonable and not,” said Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of
South Carolina.
Large automakers in particular have made big strides in
the technological development of driverless cars but have been wary of
introducing those features too quickly without the backing of federal
regulators.
“Big companies love certainty and targets that they need
to aim for,” said Brad Templeton, a consultant and publisher of Robocars.com.
Neal E. Boudette contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on September
20, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Guidance
on Driverless Cars Balances Safety and Innovation.
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