US regulators open door to computer `drivers’
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Washington - A computer in a self-driving vehicle (SDV) could be considered to be the driver, US safety regulators said, possibly paving the way for the legal rollout of cars with no traditional controls.
In a letter responding to a query from technology giant Google, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said current regulations identifying who was deemed to be in control of a vehicle were outdated.
"We agree with Google its SDV will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years," said the letter posted on the agency's website this week.
Currrent regulations say that the driver is "the occupant of a motor vehicle seated immediately behind the steering control system." But Google had pointed out that in a car without, for example, a steering wheel or pedals, this definition becomes meaningless.
"If no human occupant of the vehicle can actually drive the vehicle, it is more reasonable to identify the 'driver' as whatever (as opposed to whoever) is doing the driving," the NHTSA said.
"In this instance, an item of motor vehicle equipment, the(Self-Driving System), is actually driving the vehicle," said the letter, addressed to Chris Urmson, the US company's director responsible for its SDV project.
The letter only represents a preliminary opinion by the agency, and many obstacles remain to the rollout of SDVs.
Individual states will still decide how Google's cars can be operated on public roads, the CNET technology website reported Tuesday.
Analysts say putting considering a computer to be the legal driver of a car raises many questions regarding for example liability in the case of accidents.
Google is among several car and technology firms looking at partially automated and completely self-driving vehicles as the future of motor transport.
They argue that self-driving cars will improve safety and enable the vehicles' occupants to do other things while the computer takes them to their destination.
- DPA
