Google Inc.’s AI system will be interpreted as drivers under federal law, a major step towards helping Google’ self-driving car hit US roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agrees with Google that its cars “will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than 100 years,” the agency said in a Feb. 4 letter to Chris Urmson, director of the company’s self-driving car project. Google asked NHTSA in a letter last November, an interpretation of safety standards in cars which it seeks to produce without traditional controls, such as a steering wheel or throttle and braking the pedals.
Other technology companies like Google, are racing in developing and selling cars that can drive on its own. All participants in this race, complained that state and federal safety rules are hampering testing and eventual deployment of such vehicles. California has also proposed draft rules which emphasized that steering wheels and a licenced driver should be in all self-driving cars.
Source: Reuters
