Driverless Autos — And Now Without a Steering Wheel

This story leads to some serious considerations:

· How comfortable are you with being on the road with driverless autos

· Would you ride in one

· Would you purchase a driverless vehicle

· How do you feel about riding in a driverless vehicle with no steering wheel and no brake pedal

And that brings us to our story.

Jonathan Morrison is the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). He says the NHTSA will absolutely consider revamping requirements that driverless cars have a steering wheel.

“If you’re developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn’t make any sense to require manual controls,” Morrison said.

That’s great news for robo-taxi companies and Tesla and others considering a redesign of a driverless auto. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been pushing for changes. Many of the autos being designed will not have a steering wheel nor will they have acceleration and brake pedals.

Morrison didn’t talk timing of a reevaluation but did note the changes will only apply to vehicles designed to operate exclusively without a human driver like a robo-taxi.

He also sent a letter to driverless vehicle firms about how their self-driving vehicles are sometimes interfering with emergency vehicles, law enforcement and other first responders. The letter noted several incidents where one “blocked the paths of ambulances and firefighters, or failed to recognize and respond to basic safety conditions like flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire, and traffic cones.”

Morrison is setting up meetings for the end of July to address the issue.

“Let me be clear: the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency,” he said in the letter. “An AV that cannot safely interact with first responders is a danger to the general public.”

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/4b1vJeD

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/4wfUUCz