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Government Transportation United States Technology

US Department of Transportation Updates Autonomous Car Rules (engadget.com) 35

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has released a report called "Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0," which includes a new set of voluntary guidelines for automated driving systems. According to Engadget, the report "outlines additional safety principles, updates policy and offers guidance to state and local governments." From the report: The report notes that it's meant to be an update to, but not a replacement of, last year's guidance, and it encourages those developing automated driving systems to make public their Voluntary Safety Self-Assessments, which were introduced in last year's report. It also updates the list of best practices for state and local governments considering automated vehicle testing and operation. The agency also takes measures to clarify its policies and roles in regards to autonomous technology implementation. First, it's doing away with the Automated Vehicle Proving Grounds announced last year -- a list of 10 self-driving test sites that were eligible for federal funding. The DOT said that due to the "rapid increase in automated vehicle testing activities in many locations, there is no need for U.S. DOT to favor particular locations."

Additionally, the agency is working on updating language and regulations that it said unintentionally hamper automated vehicle progress. It will adapt its definitions of "driver" and "operator" to reflect that they no longer always refer to humans and can encompass automated systems. The DOT also announced a future notice of proposed rulemaking that will suggest exceptions to certain safety standards that apply only to human drivers -- such as pedals, brakes, mirrors and steering wheels -- for automated systems.

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US Department of Transportation Updates Autonomous Car Rules

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  • Recap (Score:5, Funny)

    by raftpeople ( 844215 ) on Thursday October 04, 2018 @05:35PM (#57427756)
    Section 1 Paragraph 1:
    Try real hard not to kill people. We're not exactly saying it's completely against the rules, but we really want you to try super hard not to kill anyone.
  • by Applehu Akbar ( 2968043 ) on Thursday October 04, 2018 @05:37PM (#57427772)

    Because an accident in an self-driving car is a product design problem that could be highly lucrative legally, rather than a charge against one person's insurance, I predict that artificially creating accidents will become a hobby for scammers. People will dash into the street in front of one from between parked cars, hoping to just be grazed. They will make oddball turns at intersection, trying to fool SDC detection systems. They will exploit whatever edge cases they can find in marginal weather. They will play "fastest brakes in the West" at intersections, knowing that the law is totally un the side of the stopped car in rear-end collisions.

    • robbing self driving trucks as well!

      • robbing self driving trucks as well!

        Or just simply be highwaymen and rob the people inside the self-driving cars who can't escape using the car because the safety features keep you from driving over something

    • Personally, since I ride a bike a lot, I plan on getting a custom jersey made, that has a full-size standard octagonal "STOP" sign on the front and back, with the words "AND LOOK FOR CYCLISTS" in small print underneath. I'll have no end of amusement as I confuse the crap out of shitty self-driving cars that can't tell the difference between a human with a stop-sign shirt on, and an actual stop-sign.
      • by Pascoea ( 968200 )

        I'll have no end of amusement as I confuse the crap out of shitty self-driving cars that can't tell the difference between a human with a stop-sign shirt on, and an actual stop-sign.

        Thank you for re-affirming why people in cars don't like to share the road with people on bikes.

        • Haters gonna hate. xD xD xD Y U SO MAD THO?
        • Maybe if bad drivers actually paid attention in driver ed and driver training, and cared enough to not drive like assholes, then maybe we wouldn't need shitty 'self driving cars' shoved down our throats. Meanwhile safe competent drivers like me will, if I live long enough, have to fight to keep my actual freedom and actual drivers license when the goddamned fanbois in the government try to literally force everyone into these fucking deathtraps on wheels.
    • by Livius ( 318358 )

      So... you're thinking the legal system of the future will side with regular pedestrians against large corporations operating driver-less cars and their large insurance companies?

      • It will, just like the legal system of the present. Convince a jury of cabbageheads that soda pop is a toxin - which like anything else, it is in sufficiently large quantities - and Joseph Blow gets an award in the billions. Not that his purported case of heartburn is worth that much, you see, but you gotta send the Evil Corporation a “message.”

    • You realize this is possible today, right? Commercial trucks that cross state lines are generally required to carry at least $750,000 in liability insurance, and most carry higher limits. I would argue that it is even easier to get yourself rear-ended by a big rig driven by a human, compared to a computer with an instant reaction time. Trucks today also won't have all the sensors and cameras recording every aspect of the accident.
  • Nothing says we mean business like 'voluntary'.
  • These things are being tested in a city 300 miles away from me, and that I don't plan to visit in the near future.

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