A Texas bill which would allow testing of driverless vehicles on public roads sped its way through both the State Senate and House and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature to become law.
As with most states, Texas does not currently have a law explicitly prohibiting driverless cars, but also has no law allowing them. If the bill becomes law, Texas will join Nevada, Michigan, and Colorado to become one of the friendliest states toward autonomous vehicle development.
Senate Bill 2205, approved unanimously in the Senate and with just one ‘no’ vote in the House, would put a law in place to both allow and regulate driverless vehicles on Texas roads “regardless of whether a human operator is physically present in the vehicle.”
Interestingly, the bill has language in it to supersede other laws saying; “Notwithstanding any other law, a licensed human operator is not required to operate a motor vehicle if an automated driving system installed on the vehicle is engaged.” It is also the automated driving system itself that is “considered to be licensed to operate the vehicle.”
There are also regulations that would be put in place by the bill such as requiring owners of autonomous vehicles to comply with all traffic and motor vehicle laws. All autonomous vehicles would need to be equipped with data recording systems, be insured, and meet federal safety standards. If an accident occurs, the car must automatically stop and notify the proper authorities.
Texas lawmakers made it clear that the push behind the bill was to make sure the Texas economy would not be left out of the autonomous revolution.
“The Texas economy fosters innovation,” said Sen. Hancock who introduced the bill in the State Senate. “Automotive technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and we need to be prepared for it.”
But it’s not just the driving of autonomous vehicles Texas wants to grab hold of – it’s the manufacturing as well. In comments to the Texas Tribune, State Representative Charlie Geren said “I don’t want General Motors, or Ford, or Volkswagen, or Uber or anybody going anywhere else because Texas isn’t quite ready for this yet.”
With almost unanimous support in the State Legislature, it seems very likely that the bill will signed into law soon, but it has been sitting on the Governor’s desk for about two weeks now waiting on a signature.
You can read the bill by clicking here.
Source: overdrive, texas, texas, texas, techcrunch, texastribune, houstonchronicle
Lobo says
Even Texas doesn’t care about drivers anymore…it’s just follow the money. So what else is new?
Wonder what will happen when a driver-less truck wipes out a family?
See how fast State Senator Charlie Geren, quoted above about not having Texas fall behind in the driver-less revolution, runs for cover.
Ted Cruz, where are you on this?
Robert says
I think driverless cars are a great idea. At least the computer won’t be updating Facebook status and taking pictures of accidents while stuck in traffic. That is part of what causes traffic delays in the first place. However, a licensed driver needs to be in the vehicle and able to take over if and when the technology malfunctions. Unless they can perfect the technology with full artificial intelligence. The current standard is forward scanning radar which sees shadows and does malfunction in rain or snow. I know because I have onguard and lane departure on the Freightliner I drive for a living.
Rick says
The problem I see with only having a licensed driver present is, if something does go wrong, will they still have the driving skill to safely drive, or will that skill be lost if they don’t drive on a regular basis?
Brian says
Robert you are correct that OnGuard is far from perfect and it does use radar but radar does NOT see shadows. It’s impossible for radar to see a shadow. But I have driven OnGuard and WingMan trucks and they certainly need work.
Lee says
Just what we need, another brainless driver!!
Angie Raincrow says
You people are crazy something that big on the roads without a human driver. What happens when it malfunctions. I would hate to see.
Richard Lively says
You’re not by yourself on that. I think this,country will not be able to do this with these Semi’s anywAy for atleast 50 years.
Steve gross says
So who do I sue when the truck hits me? Current tanker opertor
Donavon says
The owner of the vehicle same as now…. if your still alive that is
Jesie j tesla says
What happene when one of those contraptions don’t stop a open weight station overweight no driver away we go who gets the ticket does that contraption know how to chain up during the winter
Robert Korchinski says
Autonomous vehicles will become as common place as vehicles with automatic transmissions. The roll out of the G5 network will make it possible. There are places where I do not see them working, such as steep mountain passes in the winter at night. But our insatiable appetite for cheap product, our necessity for food , the implementation of Just In Time delivery and the retirement of the Baby Boomers will make Autonomous Trucks a necessity. Truck Driving as a career choice will be basically non existent as it currently is, in 10 to 20 years. I started driving trucks 40 years ago, and currently own a Commercial Truck Driving school. Driving schools will disappear. There may be a need for a driving school, such as mine, who’s specialty is based around Advanced Mountain Training. It that is entirely dependent on if they can sort out the technology and software where a driverless truck can get over up and down an 8% grade in the middle of February at 2:00 am in a driving snowstorm where the snow flakes are the size of small white dogs. That remains to be seen.
Alice Bowie says
I don’t see that having a human in the vehicle is going to make any difference. Think about it for a minute.
OK, the vehicle is being driven by the computer system and is travelling down the road at 45 or 55 or 70 miles an hour… it’s surrounded by other vehicles travelling at the same speed or faster… then… there’s a problem.
Now, unless the human is sitting behind the wheel and fully aware of the traffic and everything going on… what’s the human going to do?
Even if the human is behind the wheel, the system has to be designed in such a way that the human can take over in a split second to avoid an accident.
Knowing humans, what are the chances that he/she will be fully attentive and keep their hands and feet hovering over the controls? Very, very slim.
The vast majority of people would get bored and distracted and be posting selfies on Facebook. They are most likely to be in the sleeper or staring out the window daydreaming about something.
And, even if that “best-case scenario” could be maintained in every computer driven vehicle… what is the point of “self-driving” systems if a human driver would be required to monitor the system at all times?
So, unless the T-1000 gets invented and perfected… the only foreseeable path is to put imperfect systems on the road and accept the inevitable “learning curve”. That’s going to likely mean accidents will happen.
But, the rich owners and shareholders will get to keep more money and eliminate more jobs and deny families their ability to eat and get medical help when needed.
Ain’t progress grand?
Jack says
Self driving cars operating in ideal conditions is no problem really… neither are tankers on long desert highways. Other than that I think that ultimately driverless trucks are going to be a disaster… but sometimes a lot of people need to die before we learn our lesson.
Just a question here… say that a company running these things hits a car and kills everyone inside it. Since there is no longer a driver they can blame for their faulty equipment… does that not technically make the owner of such a vehicle liable for the damages… including manslaughter and 2nd degree murder charges?
In a society based upon laws is it not our civic duty to make sure that the operators of such unsafe vehicles are punished to the full extent of the law and face at least lifetime imprisonment or even the death penalty for putting such a mass-murder machine on the road in the first place?
StrayDawg says
Look at all the jobs that will be lost. How will this help the economy by putting millions of truck drivers out of work?
Richard A. says
If this fully autonomous nightmare comes to fruition, this will spell the end of the middle class as we know it.
Peter says
For all those upset over job loss. This is the future we will get. Automation and computers have killed more jobs than anything and for some reason not only do they get us to vote against our own best intefests, in favor of politicians who do nothing but the bidding of the wealthiest among us making them ever richer with huge tax cuts but they fool us into thinking that some how that is freedom. Cake for the rich, dirt for the masses. When will it be time to discuss hugely raising the taxes on the ones who really benefit from this to pay minimum incomes to the rest of us who no longer have jobs to aspire to because a machine, that pays no taxes because it doesn’t get paid, now does almost the work while the 6 people who own those machines keep all the money? Look at Walmart, how many of you use those self checkout lanes? That is a company that already is the lowest payer getting you to help them pay even less by getting you to do peoples jobs for them, for free. But its “convenient” right? It sure is, for the Walton family.
Jack says
Just waiting for a few sensors to malfunction on one of these to watch it roll over a few cars, smack a school bus and take the shortest route to a destination through the middle of a crowded shopping mall due to a GPS malfunction… a few system failures during rush hour on I-95… and then of course the inevitable police notifications when absolutely nothing is wrong due to a system malfunction… or just coming to a dead stop or applying 50% brakes because there is snow on the sensor array (OnGuard) holding up traffic for miles… can’t wait to watch this thing back up to a dock in Los Angelas.
So many possibilities… if only someone was there to make sure that didn’t happen who could operate said vehicle in such a way to protect the public from the technology on board. Nah, that’s just crazy talk… who would hire drivers for driverless trucks when they could simply hire a driver and save themselves millions of dollars and their customers from the expense of having to retrofit all their docks with specialized transponders for this equipment. Obviously drop and hook isn’t gonna work anymore so I sure hope those companies can liveload fast… time is money, friend.
Floyd Nasby says
Haha!! That’s the best reply yet on this topic. “Shortcut through a crowded mall”……..that’s hysterical. This is definitely going to be entertaining!
george says
Invention of..
ship, 2613
planes 1903
Trains 1804
Truck 1898
All of which can be operated autonomous, but in this litigious society, will never happened.
george says
2613 BC for ships
Jay Stensrud says
Oh my. The sheep have spoken. Your inside. Vehicle takes control of everything. Can you say I will rule the world. So maybe a certain class, race,political,spiritual etc… need to be “put down” let’s say ? Perfect vehicle. Go Texas. You know there going to start with Oklahoma. Then it’ll be whoever they need to beat at football. Think for yourselves for once. Be safe. Have a little respect out here. I dunno. Help a driver out today. God Bless. We need it.
Max says
I think we’re missing an entrepreneurial opportunity here.
Let’s face it, technology marches ahead…and technology breaks down.
So I think I”ll start a ‘Driver on Call’ company and develop a cadre of CDL drivers that will head to a broken down driverless truck in a moment’s notice, to move the load to consignee. Make it generous…Driver gets 85% of the gross.
That will buy a lot of beer!
Bob says
lol … they might want to perfect “driver-less” in a tiny car before proceeding to semi’s ….
then with a semi , find a robot that can do a pretrip , maintenance , fuel , etc , etc , etc …
this idea sounds much like the $80k “flying car” which was supposed to be available by the late 1980’s …
there might be some limited potential uses , but highly unlikely that this would take over as some have speculated ….
Bob says
… plus the fact that most of these computer controlled potential weapons of mass destruction would be a terrorists hackers playground …
Jay Stensrud says
Has anyone heard of the dark web & hackers ? Ya know the guys who take your stuff then sell it back to you. The guys who our baddest of badass intelligence agencies can’t track down or find on their best days. Yeah them guys. Don’t suppose they’ll have any interest in what’s rolling around. Or worse. Make a virtual reality game of it.
Floyd says
Exactly! They’ll be hijacking hi value cargo with the stroke of a key and that driverless truck load of pharmaceuticals or prime rib will be off the map and gone.
Cathy Charles says
I won’t be driving in states that allow big rigs to be autonomous. I’m not risking my life, or my truck. These states may have a hard time getting drivers to deliver with those things on the road. Maybe they’ll consider using these in remote areas?
George says
Don’t sign. This would only end up causing unemployment for the people who work in the transportation industry. That’s all we need, more terrorist automating car bombs into the governor’s building, and deaths of families that were victims of faulty driverless guidance systems. Also, if there is an accident with a driverless vehicle, and you are way out somewhere where there are no police what do you do about insurance and driver license info.. There’s nobody in the vehicle. You will be sitting around waiting for hour(s) for police to show up. And if it’s your fault, all you would have to do is destroy the driverless vehicle making sure to destroy any video recording of the incident. And maybe even strip the vehicle of expensive equipment.