Rules for Self-Driving Vehicles to be Overhauled

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is moving forward with exploring a major overhaul of existing traffic safety regulations as they pertain to self-driving vehicles. Specifically, NHTSA will look to eliminate regulations that currently bar self-driving vehicles that do not have steering wheels, brake pedals, or other driver controls.

Current regulations dating back as far as the 1960s prohibit vehicle designs that eliminate driver intervention, such as “one that requires vehicle brakes be operated by a driver’s foot.” (Automotive News, 2017.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20171027/MOBILITY/171029753/nhtsa-moves-to-overhaul-rules-for-self-driving-cars
). However, legislation is being proposed to allow NHTSA to exempt self-driving cars from certain regulations, paving the way for designers and manufacturers to produce vehicles that need not comply with rules requiring a human driver, provided they can show that these vehicles are at least as safe as conventional vehicles.

So, in the future, you are likely to see autonomous vehicles that eliminate the need for a driver behind the wheel. It will usher in a new era of functionality and productivity currently unimaginable; but that is exactly where designers’ imaginations are taking us once the red tape of prohibitive driverless regulations is amended or removed altogether. Until then, hold on to the wheel and keep your foot on the brake!

Happy driving! Drive Safely!