Members of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team have told advisers that they plan to make a federal framework for self-driving vehicles one in all the Transportation Department's priorities, in line with people accustomed to the matter.

If recent rules allow more widespread use of cars without human control, it should directly profit Elon Musk, the Tesla Inc. chief executive and Trump megadonor who has turn out to be a robust fixture within the president-elect's inner circle. He is betting the longer term of the electrical vehicle maker on self-driving technology and artificial intelligence.

Tesla shares rose greater than 7% shortly after markets opened on Monday, extending their 28% rise since Election Day. Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., which could face competition from Musk's long-planned robotaxi network, each fell greater than 6% in intraday trading.

Current federal regulations pose significant hurdles for firms that wish to bring vehicles without steering wheels or pedals to market in large numbers, which is what Tesla intends to do.

The Trump team desires to staff the department with leaders who will develop a framework for regulating self-driving vehicles, in line with people accustomed to the matter, who asked to not be identified because they usually are not authorized to talk publicly. The work continues to be at an early stage and the policy details still have to be fleshed out.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration currently allows manufacturers to deploy 2,500 self-driving vehicles per yr under a granted exemption. Additionally, there are a lot of ongoing safety investigations into each autonomous vehicles and driver assistance systems, including features Tesla markets as Autopilot and fully self-driving.

While the Transportation Department, through NHTSA, can set narrow rules that will help clear the best way for autonomous vehicles, mass adoption of self-driving cars will likely require a broader act from Congress. A bipartisan legislative measure within the early stages of debate would create federal rules for AVs, two of the people said.

“Companies want clarity about vehicles with no pedals and no steering wheel,” said Grayson Brulte, founding father of The Road to Autonomy, an information and analytics company focused on self-driving technology. “There could be arguments about this, but if a federal framework is implemented, it could usher in the autonomous economy.”

One candidate for transportation secretary is Emil Michael, a former Uber executive who has spoken to Trump's team and potential employees, in line with people accustomed to the discussions. Republican Reps. Sam Graves of Missouri and Garret Graves of Louisiana were also being considered to steer the department, the people said.

The transition team didn’t reply to requests for comment.

Waymo, cruise

Tesla is attempting to meet up with firms led by Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo, which, unlike Musk's automaker, has already carried passengers in vehicles with nobody behind the wheel.

General Motors Co.'s Waymo and Cruise have largely only used autonomous cars, which still have steering wheels and pedals, although they’ll drive with out a human in the driving force's seat. This is because of state and federal safety requirements, a lot of which were written long before automated driving systems were introduced.

While firms can request an exemption from these standards to operate a limited variety of vehicles without certain controls, Cruise's request for such an exemption has not been processed for greater than two years. In July, GM announced it was abandoning plans for a dedicated autonomous vehicle called Origin.

Autonomous vehicles are also being deployed slowly for safety reasons. Cruise kept his cars off the road for nearly a yr after one in all his vehicles struck and carried away a pedestrian in San Francisco. NHTSA has also initiated defect investigations into Waymo and Amazon.com Inc.'s Zoox unit and Tesla's driver assistance systems. Uber sold its self-driving automobile division in 2020, years after one in all its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona.

Tesla's Cybercab

Musk announced plans last month to provide large numbers of driverless Tesla robotaxis starting in 2026. The company introduced the Cybercab and Robovan models last month, which were just prototypes.

Shortly after the event, Musk called for a nationwide approval process for autonomous vehicles. During Tesla's quarterly earnings call, the CEO said he would use a possible role within the Trump administration to push for such a task.

Since then, Trump has appointed Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to go a brand new Ministry of Government Efficiency to “cut government bureaucracy” and cut spending and regulations deemed overly burdensome.

NHTSA currently allows manufacturers to deploy 2,500 self-driving vehicles per yr under a granted waiver, but legislative efforts to extend that number to as many as 100,000 have repeatedly failed.

An analogous bill passed the House several years ago, during Trump's first term, however the measure stalled within the Senate. An attempt within the Biden administration's first yr to merge the bill with other laws failed when some manufacturers tried to incorporate language that will prevent consumers from suing or starting class motion lawsuits.

©2024 Bloomberg LP Visit Bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Originally published: November 18, 2024 at 10:01 am PST

Early one morning last 12 months, as Rep. Josh Bray left his small southeastern Kentucky town of Mount Vernon to make his technique to the Capitol in Frankfort, he decided to count what number of drivers he saw texting or doing something was distracted by something else.

He stopped counting after 24 when he saw a truck driver reading a newspaper on the road.

The incident spurred efforts by Republican lawmakers to pass a bill within the Kentucky legislature this spring that may set rules for self-driving vehicles, including the most important business vehicles after July 2026. Bray believes the foundations will be sure that self-driving vehicles are safer than those operated by often distracted human drivers.

The recent law For fully autonomous vehicles — those designed to operate with out a human driver — owners must submit a security and communications plan that law enforcement can use and carry liability insurance of no less than $1 million per vehicle 10 times higher than the quantity for normal private vehicles.

“I felt like there was a need to have something on the books in Kentucky because we're kind of a logistics hub,” Bray said. For example, he said, self-driving baggage handling vehicles at an airport in northern Kentucky A state highway can now be crossed.

Lawmakers approved the bill in late March and a number of weeks later overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who said the bill moved too quickly and that there needed to be a testing period before fully autonomous vehicles can be allowed to operate within the state.

While fully autonomous cars should not yet in regular use within the country, some states have allowed limited testing and pilot programs on public roads. Many state legislatures try to get ahead of self-driving vehicles that may eventually hit their roads by setting standards for the way the vehicles operate and rules for law enforcement in the event that they find an autonomous vehicle violating a traffic law. And many laws, corresponding to Kentucky, require minimum insurance to guard drivers, passengers and pedestrians if the vehicles are involved in an accident.

According to Douglas Shinkle, deputy director for environment, energy and transportation on the National Conference of State Legislatures, five states and Washington, D.C. have passed bills addressing fully automated vehicles this 12 months. The recent laws in AlabamaKentucky and South Dakota enable the operation of fully autonomous vehicles California New law addresses safety requirements. North Carolina brings the vehicles under the updated dealer regulations for all cars.

Updates to current laws

About half of states have already got laws regulating vehicles that operate with some level of autonomous technology — from fully autonomous vehicles that aren't yet on the road to those who have some driver-assistance features, Shinkle said . However, many laws are already being modified.

“There has been a steady evolution of the bills,” he said, “with some going back and some wording being refined. “A number of recent states are added yearly.”

Most of the new laws this year have to do with commercial vehicles, he said. States hope to include vehicle manufacturers or other industries that would use the technology.

“A lot of this is motivated by states not wanting to be left behind,” Shinkle said. “They hope this leads to jobs in their states.”

However, unions fear that the technology could lead to the loss of driver jobs.

Dustin Reinstedler, president of the Kentucky chapter of the AFL-CIO, testified against the bill in his state, saying at a hearing that his union favored alternative legislation that would require a study on the “impact of autonomous vehicles on our roads and workplaces.” demand from over 50,000 workers.”

Autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from Waymo, formerly known as Google's self-driving car project, are already seen in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco and are allowed to operate in limited areas.

Safety concerns

Fully autonomous vehicles raise safety concerns. California enacted a law This year, this will require, among other things, manufacturers to continually monitor every autonomous vehicle on the road and designate a remote operator to decommission a vehicle if necessary. The law also allows law enforcement to issue a non-compliance notice if autonomous vehicles violate local traffic laws.

Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began one Investigation There have been four accidents involving Teslas using a partial automation system (which can navigate highways and steer the car on city streets but requires the presence of a licensed driver), including one in which a pedestrian was killed. In a news release, NHTSA said reduced visibility may have led to the accidents.

An NHTSA spokesman said in an email that in each incident, the Tesla entered an area with reduced roadway visibility due to sun, glare, fog or dust. She did not want to elaborate or be identified.

Bray, the Kentucky lawmaker, argued that self-driving vehicles and driver-assistance vehicles are “much safer than human drivers.” He added that fully autonomous vehicles such as large trucks could operate in the middle of the night, relieving traffic from the roads during rush hour and reducing the risk of tired drivers falling asleep.

The idea of ​​semi-trucks without drivers makes Republican Sen. Greg Elkins of Kentucky uncomfortable. He opposed the bill and supported the governor's veto.

“My reasoning was that I don’t think the technology is there yet, especially with 18-wheelers,” he said in an interview. “I would have agreed with the bill that would have made a restriction [it to smaller vehicles].”

Alabama new law Fully autonomous vehicles require at least $100,000 in liability insurance, about the same as regular cars.

Robert Passmore, vice president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a trade group of insurance companies, said that if individual autonomous vehicles are used regularly, insurance companies would still have to answer the question of “who was driving on the time.” He argued that liability insurance should be equivalent to that required for regular cars with a driver.

“Our position is that these vehicles should be equally insured,” he said. “The things that can happen while driving are largely the same. Whatever the minimum limits are for this type of vehicle, they are probably appropriate [for autonomous vehicles]. Most people wear more than the minimum anyway.”

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Originally published: November 7, 2024 at 10:41 am PST

A self-driving automobile from Waymo interrupted Vice President Kamala Harris' motorcade in San Francisco on Friday evening as police responded to patrol and drove the vehicle away from the scene.

Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, was on the town Friday and stayed on the Fairmont Hotel before a campaign fundraiser on the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts on Saturday afternoon.

ABC7 first reported the news that the robotaxi didn’t make a U-turn on California Street, thus stopping the vice chairman's motorcade. San Francisco law enforcement officials who were in the world quickly responded and the issue was resolved, a department spokesman said Monday.

Waymo didn’t reply to emails looking for comment on Monday.

The incident isn't the primary time a Waymo driverless vehicle has caused an issue in San Francisco.

In February, a Waymo automobile hit a cyclist in Potrero Hill. The cyclist was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Waymo reportedly claimed that the collision occurred because the driving force darted out from behind a big truck and the Waymo automobile didn’t have time to react.

That same month, an indignant group of individuals set fire to a Waymo automobile in Chinatown in the course of Chinese New Year celebrations.

In August, dozens of parked driverless Waymo cars repeatedly woke up residents south of the market with constant honking within the early morning hours. The chorus of honking began when a driverless automobile backed up, letting off a honk after which one other.

After several weeks and complaints from neighbors, Waymo finally fixed a feature that was installed to forestall low-speed collisions by honking when other cars got too close to one another while reversing. Waymo apologized to residents, threw an ice cream party and gave them free Waymo rides.

Waymo isn't the one self-driving automobile maker that has had problems in San Francisco. Authorities Cruise's permission revoked after an incident during which a self-driving automobile dragged a lady 20 feet, seriously injuring her.

Starting in 2026, the California Department of Motor Vehicles could have more details about adjusting operating permits, based on repeated problems under a bill signed into law Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. FROM 1777, written by San Francisco Democratic Assemblymember Phil TingAuthorizes law enforcement to take motion if an autonomous vehicle violates vehicle regulations. Repeated citations would allow the DMV to switch or revoke a business's permits.

Originally published: September 30, 2024 at 2:11 p.m

Three times prior to now 4 months, William Stein, a technology analyst at Truist Securities, has accepted Elon Musk's invitation to check out the most recent versions of Tesla's vaunted “Full Self-Driving” system.

A Tesla equipped with this technology, the corporate said, could drive from place to put with little human intervention. But each time Stein drove certainly one of the cars, the vehicle performed unsafe or illegal maneuvers, he said. His last test drive earlier this month “frightened” his 16-year-old son, who was accompanying him, Stein said.

Stein's experience, in addition to a Tesla crash within the Seattle area in April that killed a motorcyclist, have drawn the eye of federal authorities, who’ve been investigating Tesla's automated driving systems for greater than two years because dozens of crashes have raised safety concerns.

The problems have caused individuals who observe autonomous vehicles to develop into more skeptical that Tesla's automated system will ever give you the chance to operate safely at scale. Stein says he doubts Tesla is anywhere near with the ability to deploy a fleet of autonomous robotaxis next yr, as Musk has predicted.

The latest incidents come at an important time for Tesla. Musk has told investors that it is feasible that autonomous vehicles will give you the chance to drive more safely than human drivers by the tip of this yr, if not next yr.

And in lower than two months, the corporate is ready to unveil a vehicle built specifically as a robotaxis. For Tesla to place robotaxis on the road, the corporate must show regulators that the system can drive more safely than humans, Musk said. Federal regulations require Teslas to satisfy national vehicle safety standards.

Musk has released data showing miles driven per crash, but just for Tesla's less sophisticated Autopilot system. Safety experts say the information is invalid since it only counts serious crashes through which airbags deployed and doesn’t show how often human drivers needed to intervene to avoid a collision.

Fully autonomous driving is currently utilized by around 500,000 Tesla owners on public roads – just over one in five Teslas in use today. Most of them have paid $8,000 or more for the optional system.

The company has identified that cars equipped with the system cannot drive themselves and that drivers have to be ready in any respect times to intervene if crucial. Tesla also says it tracks the behavior of every driver and can remove the flexibility to make use of fully autonomous driving in the event that they don’t properly supervise the system. Recently, the corporate began calling the system “fully autonomous driving” (supervised).

Musk, who has admitted that his previous predictions for the usage of autonomous driving were too optimistic, promised in 2019 a fleet of autonomous vehicles by the tip of 2020Five years later, many who follow the technology say they doubt it could work across the United States as promised.

“That's not even close to happening and it won't happen next year,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.

The automotive Stein was driving was a Tesla Model 3, which he picked up at a Tesla showroom in Westchester County, north of New York City. The automotive, Tesla's most reasonably priced vehicle, was equipped with the most recent Full Self-Driving software. Musk says the software is now uses artificial intelligence to support the steering and pedals.

During his drive, Stein said, the Tesla felt smoother and more human than previous models. But on a visit of lower than 10 miles, the automotive turned left through a red light.

“It was breathtaking,” said Stein.

He said he didn’t take control of the automotive because there was little traffic and the maneuver didn’t appear dangerous on the time. Later, nonetheless, the automotive drove down the center of an avenue and crossed two lanes of traffic stepping into the identical direction. This time, Stein said, he intervened.

The latest version of fully autonomous driving, Stein wrote to investors, “does not solve the problem of autonomy” as Musk predicted. Nor does it “seem to match the capabilities of robotaxis.” During two previous test drives in April and July, Stein said, Tesla vehicles also surprised him with unsafe maneuvers.

Tesla didn’t reply to messages in search of comment.

Stein said that while he believes Tesla will eventually earn a living with its driving technology, he doesn't see a robotaxi with no driver and a passenger within the back seat anytime soon. He predicted there could be significant delays or range limitations.

Stein identified that there is usually a big gap between what Musk says and what’s more likely to occur.

Certainly, many Tesla fans have posted videos on social media showing their cars driving themselves without human control. Of course, the videos don’t show how the system behaves over time. Others have posted videos showing dangerous behavior.

Alain Kornhauser, director of autonomous vehicle studies at Princeton University, said he drove a Tesla borrowed from a friend for 2 weeks and located that the automotive consistently detects pedestrians and other drivers.

Although the automotive works well more often than not, Kornhauser has needed to take control when the Tesla made movements that scared him. He warns that fully autonomous driving shouldn’t be yet at the purpose where you’ll be able to drive it anywhere without human supervision.

“This thing,” he said, “is not at a point where it can go anywhere yet.”

Kornhauser said he believes the system could operate autonomously in smaller areas of a city where detailed maps guide the vehicles. He wonders why Musk doesn't start offering rides on a smaller scale.

“People could really use the mobility this would provide,” he said.

For years, experts have warned that Tesla's system of cameras and computers shouldn’t be all the time in a position to detect objects and determine what they’re. Cameras can't all the time see in bad weather and darkness. Most other autonomous robotaxi firms, akin to Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo and General Motors' Cruise, mix cameras with radar and laser sensors.

“If you can't see the world properly, you can't plan, move and respond to the world properly,” says Missy Cummings, a professor of engineering and computer science at George Mason University. “Cars can't do this with just vision,” she says.

Phil Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who studies autonomous vehicle safety, said it is going to be a few years before autonomous vehicles based solely on artificial intelligence will give you the chance to handle all real-world situations.

“Machine learning lacks common sense and narrowly learns from a large number of examples,” Koopman said. “If the computer driver gets into a situation it hasn't been taught, it is vulnerable to crashes.”

Last April, a motorcyclist was struck and killed by a Tesla with fully autonomous driving in Snohomish County, Washington, near Seattle, authorities said. The Tesla driver, who has not yet been charged, told authorities he was using fully autonomous driving and was taking a look at his phone when the automotive struck the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead on the scene, authorities reported.

The agency said it was evaluating information from Tesla and law enforcement concerning the fatal accident. It also said it was aware of Stein's experience with fully autonomous driving.

The NHTSA also noted that it’s investigating whether a Tesla recall earlier this yr, which strengthen its automated vehicle driver monitoring systemactually succeeded. It also prompted Tesla to Fully autonomous driving in 2023 since the authority may disregard some traffic rules in “certain rare cases”, which increases the chance of accidents. (The authority didn’t say whether it had already checked whether the recall had achieved its purpose.)

As Tesla's electric vehicle sales have stalled in recent months despite price cuts, Musk has told investors to consider the corporate as a robotics and artificial intelligence company somewhat than a carmaker, though Tesla has been working on fully autonomous vehicles since at the very least 2015.

“I recommend that anyone who doesn't believe Tesla will solve the problem of vehicle autonomy should not own Tesla shares,” he said during a quarterly earnings call last month.

However, Stein told investors to choose for themselves whether Full Self-Driving, Tesla's artificial intelligence project “with the longest track record, currently generating revenue and already being used in the real world, actually works.”

Originally published: August 29, 2024 at 6:03 am

Drivers weaving through traffic on the Camino Real may soon have recent cars to contend with, but nobody to direct their road rage at: self-driving cars are coming to the peninsula.

Autonomous vehicle maker Waymo will begin testing its robotaxis along the peninsula in the subsequent few weeks. This is step one in the corporate's plans to eventually expand its service areas into Sunnyvale.

“The Peninsula is our home – we want to bring the technology to the Peninsula because it's a good market and because we all want to use it there,” said Waymo product manager Chris Ludwick.

Waymo, which relies in Mountain View and owned by Google parent Alphabet, began operating a robotaxi fleet in Phoenix in 2020. In August 2023, the corporate expanded its service to San Francisco to a limited group of users, although a whole bunch remain on a waiting list for access. The company makes tens of hundreds of trips each week, Ludwick said.

During the Peninsula pilot, Waymo continues to check its driver-accompanied vehicles on trips as far south as Sunnyvale.

Just like in San Francisco, Waymo's “driver-only” cars shall be limited to country roads – meaning they will't access Highway 101 yet. San Francisco International Airport can also be off limits — although the corporate continues to barter with city officials about eventually offering flights there. (Waymo's Phoenix service area already includes the town's airport.)

The deployment of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco hasn't all the time been smooth. In August, nearly a dozen robotaxis from competitor Cruise blocked a street in North Beach, bringing traffic to a standstill. And in February, a crowd in Chinatown a Waymo automobile set on fire.

It was only a matter of time before Waymo announced a pilot project on the peninsula. In January the corporate submitted an application to the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates industrial passenger vehicles, to expand services south beyond San Francisco. The agency approved the appliance.

The CPUC's move sparked a dispute between the state and native authorities, who want the agency to make a decision whether self-driving cars can drive on their roads.

Dave Canepa, vice chairman of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, is amongst those protesting the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

“Why would a city or county allow the unrestricted use of robotaxis when they are proven to be disruptive and even deadly to first responders?” Canepa previously told this news organization. “What is needed is local control and not the blanket approval that the DMV and CPUC have received.”

The fight can also be shifting to the California Legislature. In January, Sen. Dave Cortese, a San Jose Democrat, introduced Senate Bill 915, which might give local governments the authority to allow and regulate autonomous vehicles. The bill is fixed for a Hearing before the Appropriations Committee on May sixth.

Ludwick said Waymo communicates repeatedly with local governments and law enforcement.

“When we expand somewhere, we take our time,” Ludwick said. “I am optimistic that we will achieve a good performance here and improve it in the future.”