New rules for driverless cars

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has published a set of proposed rules governing how the state regulator would deal with autonomous vehicles, in response by moves by all the key players to develop and test driverless cars on the state’s road network.

Some 18 companies working on self-driving vehicles have licenses to test autonomous vehicles in the state. Google, Ford, Volkswagen and Honda all currently have licenses to test driverless cars on California’s roads as long as those vehicles have a qualified driver.

However, the technology companies and other automakers have objected to a proposed rule that would require the self-driving car builder to submit a year’s worth of testing data on when the car had to be disengaged from autonomous mode in order for that car maker to be allowed to fully deploy the self-driving vehicle.

The manufacturer shall certify that it will release autonomous technology sensor data… that is in its possession or control to law enforcement or peace officers within 24 hours of their request for such data,” the proposal reads. Such a request could be delivered without a warrant or a subpoena.

The state’s approach “could greatly delay the benefits that self-driving vehicles can bring to safety and mobility for individuals,” said David Strickland, who heads the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets that includes Google, Ford, Lyft, Uber Technologies and Volvo Car Group.

At a national level, the Department of Transportation has released a federal automated vehicles policy for public comment. The proposals include the suggestion that Automobile manufacturers and technology companies working on self-driving cars would be required to provide the department with access to evolving software and hardware developments, so that safety assessments can be performed.

A new 15-point “Safety Assessment,” which includes categories such as human-machine interface, privacy and post-crash behavior, requires companies to submit technology before it is a deployed.

Government officials have said that sharing such data not only with federal officials but also industry competitors is integral to providing consumers with the safest self-driving vehicles. Strickland says it remains to be seen how such an unprecedented collaboration will work out in practice.