California’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Wednesday that it will allow for totally driverless cars to operate on public roads, with or without a driver.
California had previously released autonomous vehicle testing regulations back in March. They asked for feedback from automakers, consumer advocates, local governments and insurance companies. Using that feedback, they made the fairly substantial changes which you can see here.
While the changes were technically made to a regulation on the testing of autonomous vehicles, in practice, they won’t only be used for testing purposes. The regulation changes will allow members of the public to ride in and use self-driving cars.
According to a report from The Verge, the changes could not only mean losing human drivers, but also mirrors, pedals, and even steering wheels.
The new regulations do not make any changes to the ban on testing autonomous trucks. And California DMV is quick to point out that companies would still need to make sure that their cars comply with federal laws before they can be used autonomously.
Congress is currently in the midst of working on autonomous vehicle regulations. One of the reasons it was deemed necessary was to ensure that there was a cohesive regulatory framework instead of a loose patchwork of different laws made for each individual state. For their part, California says that it has updated its regulations to allow for as smooth a process as possible once the federal guidelines go into effect.
The CA DMV has opened up a 15-day public comment period on the regulatory changes ending October 25th. Written comments can be submitted by email to LADRegulations@dmv.ca.gov
Source: overdrive, CADMV, CADMV, sacbee, engadget, theverge, techcrunch
RCD says
Well I for one wouldn’t get in a car that drives its self. I can see this being a hackers play toy
Kevin Lott says
Taking away jobs.
Kitkatt says
Yep! We should get back to horsedrawn buggies, because cars took away the buggy maker’s, horse tender’s, and whip-maker’s jobs!
And planes should be done away with too, they took away so many jobs as well.
Anthony says
Exactly!! Automation will take away more jobs than any immigrants will.
JUAN R CASTRO says
Autonomous vehicles are one of the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard. When have you ever seen a car used everyday and checked every single day go without any problems? Have you ever had a computer that was completely glitch free? One that didn’t freeze up from time to time regardless of the workload you’re trying to make it do. How many people out there can predict when they need to replace a faulty sensor on their car? What about a cmv?
Ive seen trucks that are pretrip inspected everyday shutdown mid highway for whatever reason and further on find out it was some computerized fault or another sensor tripped it to shutdown. Explain to me how vehicle recalls work. Now explain to me how the hell your supposed to handle any if these situations when the GPS lady is torn between telling you gps signal lost….or server is down and telling you to make a you turn up ahead even though you’ve already turned and arrived at your destination…I’ve never once used navigation without it getting lost at some point usually when I’m getting close to my destination
Good luck California. It’s a good thing your gonna fall into the ocean sooner than later at least it’ll save you the embarrassment and massacre one of these autonomous vehicles causes
E. TABAKMAN says
You are also competing with human drivers in heavy traffic on the freeways and not all drivers go with the flow of traffic. Lane changes would be of my greatest concern.
Don’t know all the details though. I don’t trust the competition with the human factor when it comes to computer controlled vehicles. I agree though unless you make decent technology, failure is always a concern and maybe the driver is too old to take back control in an emergency.
Perhaps in case of malfunction, the shut down sequence should include a complete stop on the side of the road somewhere where safe etc. etc.
Just don’t buy it that the technology is that decent of thorough.
Kitkatt says
Sounds like…more jobs
Ronald Leon Stjohn says
Nothing will ever replace a real human human interaction etc this maybe the thing of the future of the now but forget about the countless jobs lost businesses ruined like mine I own a few trucks I’ll be out of business I think it will be a costly mistake in the long run and potentially will unfortunately result in lawsuits when these vehicles make an error as we all know is not an if it’s a matter of when everything man made has errors
Kitkatt says
Probably way less accidents than all the ones caused by humans behind the wheel. Planes caused many businesses to go under as well, things change and you adjust.
david says
its a disaster waiting to happen!!!
Andrew says
I think it is ABSURD allowing for the possibility for autonomous vehicles on the road with no driver behind the wheel. There needs to be EXTENSIVE and comprehensive testing and progress before that should be allowed. These people are idiots.
Donald Mickunas says
What else is new?
Ron says
Absolutely stupid and you can bet the terrorists are already planning massive car bomb attacks with these.
Jonathan says
It’s not a good idea human’s make mistakes so will machine’s. If a car without a driver does a hit and run who is to blame. #2 truck driver’s like me how would we deliver if we cannot drive there. #3 I’m pretty sure your thinking about all electric vehicles what if you lose power source. #4 in State of emergency and you need to evacuate with your family you can’t get into a car and drive it to safety because you will have no steering wheel,gas and break pedal and no mirrors. So tell me you and your family will burn in a wild fire or die in a earthquake
John Fuller says
I think it would be used as a weapon for idiots and I’m sure hackersare going to Love them. That wouldn’t be a good idea.
Jonny Sponar says
Another pansy millennial with a cute little creation on his computer in mommy’s basement. Hope it’s a disaster.
RenoBlues says
You’re blaming the millennials for this?Last I checked the ones making all policies and taking all the corporate kickbacks are baby boomers. Name one millennial politician. Moron
Jimmy Bikas says
Rubio
Dummy says
Rubio was born in 71 dummy, his kids are millenials, not him.
Max says
No. He was born in 1971. Actually makes him an X gener.
Kitkatt says
Many baby boomers threw a bunch of gooberment debt onto the shoulders of the next generations. Bunch of selfish, economically ignorant fools looking for handouts on the backs of others.
Barney says
Yep!
Richard A. says
Unfortunately, they will probably ‘field test’ the viability of this by the measurement of how many people will lose their lives when the technology inevitably fails.
Tom says
I hope so!
It will show how many people are saved per 1,000,000 miles driven vs human driven vehicles.
Brad says
What happens when a driverless car hits an 18 wheeler or someone else?
Who gets the ticket?
Larry Harris says
You know it’s always the truckers fault!
Barney says
Give trucker ticket!
NEXT
Wayne Dearman says
Oh well I stopped going to Cally roughly started 1yr ago an now this I’m for sure will turn down loads going there lol
Joe says
I love reading the comments on these stories. The sky is falling! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Kitkatt says
Lol, yep. With every new technology the same reaction
Barney says
This round of creative destruction WILL be different 😉
John says
Sounds like a whole lot of lawsuits to me… time to go to CA!
Bob Andrews says
This move will be a financial gain for the Ambulance Chasing Lawyers. Example: Driverless vehicle runs red light in front of 18 wheeler. Trucker breaks hard but crashes into vehicle. Lawyer for vehicle owner sues auto maker for vehicle sensor malfunction – collects. Lawyer for trucker sues vehicle owner – suit is dismissed. Reason: Trucker’s supposed to keep tractor under control at all times. Trucker gets ticket. State of Calif says 18 wheeler should have been replaced with Driverless tractor – to avoid this kind of mishap. Driverless vehicles ‘talk to each other’ – thus avoiding problems. If problems do happen – sue vehicle manufacturer. Lawyers benefit. ‘Artificial Intelligence’ wins again.
The Future says
Young people in the trucking business need to keep this stuff on their radar. The same tech that can manage autonomous vehicles is perfect for shepherding semis over the road. Robots require no sleep, bathrooms, food, and they never get distracted. They will stay in their lanes 100% of the time. They will not tailgate, become aggressive, or do anything other than drive and fuel. This has implications throughout the entire system, from the people working the registers and the grills at Pilot to the sex workers out in the lots. It will start with drivers and cascade into the entire industry. Smart people will anticipate this and position themselves to make money in the changing system. But like it or not, it is coming.
Marty says
Well I could go in to all the reasons you will never see that, but, let me just ask you, is the government going to feed all of us?
Kitkatt says
Well said
Anthony Calderon says
Stay in their lanes like to see that in strong wind conditions
Good Driver says
Well, the technology progresses very quickly. Even my kids a few years ago knew how to operate an iPad before they started talking. When me only had just a pager when I was 20+ years old. You know that technology is coming sooner or later – and I guess that time has come. On other hand – I hope that everything you guys talked about and much more has been thought about by the developers and tested through many times, because I think they are a very smart people if they can design anything like that. And than again reviewed and tested by DOT – other ways this vehicles wouldn’t be approved.
Tom says
Wow, all the negativity… You all do realize that this progress is going to happen whether you reject or embrace it or not – right? What we are seeing here is a revolution the likes of which has not been seen before. This is the initial phase, but given technological advancement over the last 20-40 years, to me at least, it’s easy to see a path for this technology. Don’t be close closed minded!
Some common bitching I see here…
It’s Taking Jobs…
DEY TOOK URR JERRBB!!! Seriously? I was laid off due to automation in the past. It’s irritating to say the least. But do you feel progress should be blocked to save jobs? Perhaps we should get rid of the printing press and tractor too. If the only reason a job exists is because it was mandated to exist and has no real purpose – that’s not a fulfilling occupation. When you really open your mind – is the best use for a human mind sitting behind the wheel of a brainless machine? I think not. Driving vehicles (18 wheelers or 4 wheelers is a total waste of a human) The transition will be hard for those few caught in the middle but this will better all of our lives, if done properly.
It’s Dangerous…
Yeah… so are drunk drivers, people texting, talking, eating, applying makeup and generally being too stupid to understand the physics of the vehicles they drive. Frankly, humans are not equipped to drive as safely as a well developed autonomous car. Let the engineers worry about lane changes and similar various horror scenarios which have been laid out. I see it daily on the road. Humans get mad, they get distracted, they get tired. Humans fail without fail. We’ve all been there and simply gotten lucky. We are a hack upon a hack of a sensory system which is ill equipped to deal with the nature of operating vehicles. It’s frankly amazing we’ve done so well. Technology glitches and fails too though – but at much more predicable and ever decreasing amount. It’s funny people complain computer, GPS etc glitching. Trust me, these are not running Windows 98, they’re not a TOM TOM navigator, they’re not google maps. They’re LIGHTYEARS ahead of those simple cheap consumer products. Though, they will glitch. People will die. But at a much lower rate than with humans behind the wheel. And each time one fails or has a near miss, the entire system learns and adapts. It will be 1000s of times safer than a human driving each and every one of which have to learn on their own.
How many hours or miles have you driven? How does that compare to every vehicle on earth? Less I bet? Imagine if you have 900,000,000,000 hours of experience, perfect 360 degree vision and a flawless understanding of the physics your vehicle is experiencing. You’d still fail, you’re human and can be distracted or tired. But hopefully you get my point, eventually the system will be that good. (Not at first, though probably still better than an average human of of the gate)
I would never get in an autonomous car…
Ok, have fun with that. Enjoy steering your vehicle, I’ll sleep, work, chat, etc in comfort and remain much safer while doing so – unless of course my vehicle isn’t able to detect your erratic emotion driven behavior. Even still, the autonomous car never gets tired, or distracted and has a near instant reaction time. I’m still better off.
BTW: This comes from someone who has been a professional driver.
JOSEPH says
Just throwing this out there; you do realize that all commercial jets are equipped with autopilot technology, and the newest models land completely by computer, very little, if ANY, pilot input.
Anna Warner says
Just wait until it kills someone else.
Good Driver says
I believe there is much greater chance to get killed by intoxicated/fatigue/etc driver than by a car that is driven by computer that constantly watches everything around and don’t get sleepy or angry.
Ross says
I come from a tech background in a former life. The progression of technology is inevitable. It’s like The Future said, the smart ones among us will figure out how to take advantage of the changes. Stubbornly resisting will leave one out in the cold without a job. And yes, it’s a great point to make that it will have a chilling affect on many other service aspects the industry. Lots more jobs will be impacted than just drivers.
Skilled jobs everywhere are being targeted for “assimilation” by AI. Bank tellers, accountants, grocery store & convenience store clerks, and in some instances even doctors & nurses. The new advances in AI coupled with the massive leaps in capabilities with LG4 will make these changes ubiquitous in society…it’s the Jetson’s in real life (for those of us over 45 yrs old).
Marty says
This is just a toy for the rich to get rid of their driver, technology is way to expensive for the average Joe, so I see this becoming as popular as electric cars.
Kitkatt says
This is happening due to over regulation, government made everything too expensive. Stop blaming the rich. If it weren’t for the rich, you wouldn’t have the majority of your conveniences because it’s the rich who help fund it until such things become affordable for the rest.
Max says
There was a time when you didn’t buy AC, Cruise Control or FM radios. It was too expensive.
This technology will come down in price and be affordable to everyone. At this time, it isn’t required, but when they have reasonably functioning vehicles, watch for legislation requiring that be the only choice.
Think not? You can’t buy a car without seat belts today, smog control and a host of other features that weren’t required in the past.
Barney says
You’ll buy it by force (regulation)
John Dahlman says
I almost feel its safer taking idiots out of the drivers seat and having computers drive it. Most people dont drive safe but at least a computer controlled car cant cause many of the problems everyday commuters create with unsafe driving habits. This technology has been around many years… airplanes fly mostly on auto pilot aside from take off and landing. Same technology but different application.
Ragged Maggot says
When two driverless cars have an accident, who’s fault is it going to be? Who knows? But, I’m still sure of one thing: THE BIGGEST WINNERS WILL BE THE LAWYERS.
Good Driver says
I’m pretty sure there is/going to be laws about it and with the cars like that there gonna be video record of an accident. And in my opinion that is something that should be completely impossible.
Barney says
Give trucker ticket!
NEXT
Lance says
They sue the owner of the car, owner has to sue the car manufacturer, manufacturer will then sue both the software and component vendors. Vendors will try to sue original owner for negligence. Laws will be passed that say operators must be present at all times (similar to manslaughter charges for a gun owner leaving a gun where someone else obtained the gun to kill someone.)
Ultimately, owning a self driving car and letting it drive around the city on its own is about as bad as leaving your loaded and unlocked AR-15 on the sidewalk.
Elle from GA says
I kinda like the idea driverless cars per sa Taxis but not remote control Big Rigs! That’s not only dangerous but completely absurd! When are you brainiacs going to produce cars that can fly over these gotdam trains that come to a complete stop in the middle of the road…then backs up…stop…then slowly move forward! All this..while on my way to work!!!! Now that would have been PERFECT!!! Go create that.
Doc says
That’s California for you… just another reason not to take any loads there.
My pops always stated that we all need to quit running into California take the loads to starks Nevada and drop it at a yard and tell California come and get your shit..
mike C. says
so if one of these cars crashes into another who is at fault .
Barney says
Give trucker ticket
Lance says
Owner of the self driving car for negligence. Much like leaving a gun on the counter in a house full of children. Or letting your dog run around the neighborhood. Or letting a semi roll down the hill because you forgot to set the brakes.
If you don’t have direct control over something that you should have, that is the definition of negligence.
Got a kicker for you though, lets say you buy the new Apple iCar and you work for a company that just sued Apple or one of its affiliates. When you bought the car you agreed to all of the 50 pages of contract signings, now the place you work is blacklisted on your own car and it will not take you to that location. Would be completely legal. Could they also charge you for “premium monthly service” to go to your direct addresses and 1 mile away for the “free users?” How about the famous “micro-transactions” pay $100 to get in the fast lane for the car to merge. Regular cars already do some of this, built in XM Radio or Onstar, “manufacturer map updates”, warranty voiding sensors. Do you really want a company like Google or Apple that knowingly put out product updates that brick older products to be in control of your car?
Toste says
Y’all know how the terminator movies started right. . . All we really need is a company to name itself “Skynet”. . .
Long Time Gone says
SoCal drivers are already faced with stupid rules requiring trucks to stay in the “Car Wars” lane, ( on ramp, off ramp lane ), where you are burdened with watching out for morons and Pendehos, who do not know how to get on the freeway, they match your speed to merge into traffic, they are watching their cell phones instead of paying attention to traffic causing numerous accidents. ( Blaming the trucks, too. ) It has become a Lawyers “dream come true” out here. Now we are going to have to watch out for the new computer driven vehicles too!?