Michigan Lets Autonomus Cars on Roads Without Human Driver
MICHIGAN LETS AUTONOMOUS CARS ON ROADS WITHOUT HUMAN
DRIVER
BY TOM KRISHER AP AUTO WRITER Dec 9, 11:10 AM EST
DETROIT (AP) -- Companies can now test self-driving cars
on Michigan public roads without a driver or steering wheel under new laws that
could push the state to the forefront of autonomous vehicle development.
The package of bills signed into law Friday comes with
few specific state regulations and leaves many decisions up to automakers and
companies like Google and Uber.
It also allows automakers and tech companies to run
autonomous taxi services and permits test parades of self-driving
tractor-trailers as long as humans are in each truck. And they allow the sale
of self-driving vehicles to the public once they are tested and certified,
according to the state.
The bills allow testing without burdensome regulations so
the industry can move forward with potential life-saving technology, said Gov.
Rick Snyder, who was to sign the bills. "It makes Michigan a place where
particularly for the auto industry it's a good place to do work," he said.
The bills give Michigan the potential to be a leader by
giving the companies more autonomy than say, California, which now requires
human backup drivers in case something goes awry.
Here are answers to some questions about the laws:
Q: Companies are making a lot of the decisions in putting
the cars on public roads. Why does the state think they'll be safe?
A: Michigan Transportation Director Kirk Steudle says the
laws put Michigan ahead of most other states with the possible exception of
Florida in specifically allowing tests without a human driver. Companies, he
said, will make the decision as to when the cars are ready for that, based on
more than a century of experience of testing cars on public roads. Automakers
have a long history of testing cars on public roads in Michigan with few, if
any, incidents, Steudle says.
The cars also have to comply with federal safety
standards and may have to be certified as roadworthy by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration if proposed federal guidelines are adopted.
"I don't want to regulate the vehicles. There is
nobody in state government that has any knowledge to be able to say that
vehicle is ready to go on the road," Steudle said. If the vehicles crash,
Steudle says they would be governed by Michigan's no-fault insurance laws that
require each driver's insurance to pay for damage. The companies also could be
sued under product liability laws, he says. The self-driving laws also allow
only reputable companies such as automakers and tech companies to do tests,
Steudle says. "These are responsible parties," says Snyder.
Q: Does this put the state ahead in allowing self-driving
vehicles on public roads?
A: Michigan Transportation Director Kirk Steudle says the
laws put Michigan ahead of most other states with the possible exception of
Florida in specifically allowing tests without a human driver.
Companies, he said, will make the decision as to when the
cars are ready for that, based on more than a century of experience of testing
cars on public roads. Steudle says yes because the laws specifically authorize
use without human drivers. He also says Michigan has an advantage over Florida
and warm-weather states because companies can test in snow.
But Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the
University of South Carolina who tracks the technology, says Florida has almost
no restrictions. Other states, he said, don't expressly prohibit such testing
and have agreements with individual companies to do it. Michigan's laws also
make defining who is a driver ambiguous, he said. Drivers could be companies
running autonomous taxi services, engineers who start autonomous vehicles,
passengers who ride in the cars and the automated systems themselves, he said.
Q: Unlike California, Michigan isn't tracking autonomous
car crashes. How will the state spot problems?
A: Police will investigate any crashes and presumably
would report any trends to the state, which could suspend a company's
manufacturer license plates and end the tests, Steudle says. He concedes that
there will be crashes and probably a fatality involving autonomous cars. But
the technology can eliminate human errors that cause 94 percent of crashes and
cut the 100 highway deaths in the U.S. every day, he said.
"It's a risk worth taking because the future of the
technologies we know are going to help reduce those crashes and reduce those
fatalities," Steudle said.
© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment