Bureaucrats haven’t always done a great job of regulating tech, but new DoT guidelines set a clear path for driverless vehicles.
Bureaucrats haven’t always done a great job of regulating tech, but new DoT guidelines set a clear path for driverless vehicles.
For the last few months, Tesla, GM, Ford, Uber, and every other company seeking to play a part in the future of autonomous transportation has been anxiously awaiting the Next Big Thing, which would either stimulate or slow the budding industry. Well, it arrived on Monday, and while it’s not exactly a sexy product, it was exactly what the companies had been hoping for: A set of federal guidelines that offer a road map for manufacturers, without getting in the way of the rapid development of self-driving cars.
The guidelines released by the Department of Transportation lay out what the government expects from manufacturers as they build and deploy autonomous cars. Eleven of the guidelines offer broad suggestions for how companies should address concerns such as privacy, cybersecurity, certification of new features, and how drivers are educated about their autonomous vehicles. Importantly, four of the guidelines offer requirements that carmakers must consider when designing the autonomous technology itself.
