Google software can qualify as car driver: US

Washington/Detroit, Feb 10 

US vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, a major step toward ultimately winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, of its decision in a previously unreported February 4 letter to the company posted on the agency’s website this week. 

Google on November 12 submitted a proposed design for a self-driving car that has “no need for a human driver”, the letter to Google from NHTSA Chief Counsel Paul Hemmersbaugh said. 

“The NHTSA will interpret ‘driver’ in the context of Google’s described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants,” the NHTSA’s letter said. “We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years.” Major automakers and technology companies such as Google are racing to develop and sell vehicles that can drive themselves at least part of the time. All participants in the autonomous driving race complain that state and federal safety rules are impeding testing and eventual deployment of such vehicles. 

California has proposed draft rules requiring steering wheels and a licensed driver in all self-driving cars. 

Karl Brauer, senior analyst for the Kelley Blue Book automotive research firm, said there were still significant legal questions surrounding autonomous vehicles. But if “the NHTSA is prepared to name artificial intelligence as a viable alternative to human-controlled vehicles, it could substantially streamline the process of putting autonomous vehicles on the road,” he said. 

In its response to Google, the federal agency offered its most comprehensive map yet of the legal obstacles to putting fully autonomous vehicles on the road. It noted existing regulations requiring some auto safety equipment cannot be waived immediately, including requirements for braking systems activated by foot control. — Reuters