US Regulators Consider AI Could “Be a Driver”

People love the idea of technology making their lives easier, be it a new gadget or an old one remade. Some of the bigger gadgets that people are looking forward are self-driving cars. Ranging from being too safe for urban areas to self-driving shuttle buses, people and governments are all interested in the idea of being driven everywhere, while some are concerned about just who is responsible, the driver or the software? This could change with regulators looking to agree on who is a “driver”.

With most self-driving cars requiring a driver, Google’s submission of a self-driving car which doesn’t require human input means that putting your feet up and letting the car go is just a step away. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has responded by saying that in these cars, it will “interpret driver” as the self-driving system within the vehicle and not one of the people within the vehicle.

In their response, the NHTSA remarked that “We agree with Google it’s [self-driving car] will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years”. California has even proposed rules that even in self-driving cars, you will still require a licensed driver and a steering wheel.

The next generation of Uber could be a self-driving shuttle from your house to wherever you want to go to. Do you like the idea of pressing a button and hopping in a taxi without a driver?