California Regulates The Autonomous Car
We know that California is a hotbed for new automotive technologies. Not only has the Golden State seen the birth of novel automotive automakers (Tesla and Fisker, among others), but it’s also home to more than a few high-tech startups (like Google) that are working on stuff we thought were science-fiction a few years ago: autonomous cars.
However, these science projects on wheels must not be dangerous for citizens. This is why the Government of California just passed a set of laws concerning the use of the autonomous vehicle; so far, all we had to rely on was the regular traffic laws and common sense (And we saw how that sometimes turned out).
Here are the four main guidelines of this new law:
- Manufacturers must submit autonomous vehicles to third-party testing to verify the car's "ability to perform key driving manoeuvres that are typically encountered in real-world driving conditions."
- A licensed driver with an autonomous vehicle operator certificate, issued by the California DMV, must be present in the vehicle at all times, "and must be capable of taking over immediate control in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency." In addition, the operator will be responsible for all traffic violations that occur while operating the autonomous vehicle.
- Manufacturers must apply for a permit, and submit monthly reports on performance, safety, and usage of autonomous vehicles, in order to test them on California roads. As a condition of the permit, "autonomous vehicles can only be operated by the manufacturer or made available to the public on no more than a leased basis." In other words, no privately-owned autonomous cars.
- Manufacturers must also disclose to autonomous vehicle operators what information will be collected by the vehicle, and they must get written approval by the operators.
It's also interesting to note that California stated that commercial autonomous vehicles (like the Freightliner Concept currently driving in Nevada) were outlawed, for now: according to legislator, the technology isn't yet advanced enough to be implemented in 20-plus-ton trucks.
What do you think of those laws? Would they work in Canada?