Google Disappointed With Proposed DMV Rules For Driverless Cars

According to a strongly-worded official reaction from the company, a few of the restrictions being imposed could hinder its plans of eventually transforming the way people commute on a daily basis by rolling out a fully autonomous vehicle that will not require any human intervention to move from point A to point B, even through heavy city traffic.

That process will further delay rules that were due at the start of 2015.

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is tapping the brakes on self-driving cars, proposing drastic limitations on their use on the state’s roads, and putting an outright ban on driverless cars with no humans aboard. Uber is working develop autonomous cars of its own; it’s spending more than $10 billion on research and has recruited researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics program.

Before the DMV grants that three-year permit, an independent certifier would need to verify a manufacturer’s safety assurances.

Manufacturers are also required to disclose the data they collect, other than from safety systems, and obtain approval to collect it. Concerns that self-driving cars could be a way for major data collectors like Google to collect information on consumers have fueled privacy concerns. The driver must have a normal driver’s license, as well as special certification for operating a driverless vehicle. They will also be required to have a licensed driver in the vehicle. “Any of this stuff can be changed down the line”, said Jaime Garza, a spokesman for the California DMV.

Judging by the way things are going, it looks like traditional taxi drivers and Uber/Lyft drivers will get a run for their money in years to come, all thanks to the self-driving auto industry.

Under the new structure, search, advertising, maps, YouTube and Android are part of the Google unit. Boosters say the technology could prevent numerous more than 32,000 deaths on US roads each year.

LICENSED DRIVERS: A licensed driver would have to be ready to take over immediately, should the car’s sensors and computers fail. “We’re gravely disappointed that California is already writing a ceiling on the potential for fully self-driving cars to help all of us who live here”, Luu said.

“The primary focus of the deployment regulations is the safety of autonomous vehicles and the safety of the public who will share the road with these vehicles”, DMV director Jean Shiomoto wrote in Wednesday’s statement. There have been scattered collisions, almost all involving Google cars.

Whether they’re converted Toyota Prius hybrids or purpose-built electric pod cars, Google’s self-driving cars have become a familiar sight on the road, and the Internet.

Meanwhile, a consumer group applauded the draft rules as appropriately cautious. They must submit monthly reports on performance and safety to the state.

Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed from Austin, Texas.