By Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times
Google Inc.’s self-driving system, controlled by artificial intelligence, could be considered a car’s driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In a letter posted on NHTSA’s website, the agency responded to Google’s request for interpretation of several federal safety standards as they apply to the tech giant’s self-driving cars.
As a premise of the interpretation, “NHTSA will interpret ‘driver’ in the context of Google’s described motor vehicle design as referring to the SDS (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants,” Paul Hemmersbaugh, chief counsel, said in the letter. “We agree with Google its SDV (self-driving vehicle) will not have a driver in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than 100 years.”
Google’s vehicle design removes conventional controls such as steering wheels and brake pedals, as the company believes that giving human occupants access to these operations could be “detrimental to safety because the human occupants could attempt to override the (self-driving system’s) decisions,” according to the letter.
The letter said Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., believes its self-driving system will “consistently make the optimal decisions” for the safety of its occupants, pedestrians and others on the road.
There are still many obstacles to overcome before driverless cars could make a widespread debut on public roads. In the letter, NHTSA said that Google also must certify that self-driving technology meets standards developed for cars with human drivers and that the agency itself must have some way to determine compliance.
“We wish to make clear that many of the other requests present policy issues beyond the scope and limitations of interpretations and thus will need to be addressed using other regulatory tools or approaches,” Hemmersbaugh said in the letter.
In addition, NHTSA said it may be possible for Google to prove that certain standards are unnecessary for a particular vehicle design, though the company “has not made such a showing.”
Google spokesman Johnny Luu said the company was considering the letter but had no other comment.
Analysts said the interpretation is a small step toward more concrete regulations and further deployment of driverless vehicles on public roads.
“I think it will be an evolution,” said Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and analyst at Kelley Blue Book.
“Certainly NHTSA is looking well over the horizon, looking to encourage any kind of driving technology that makes things safer, and certainly autonomous driving promises to do that,” he said. “They want to encourage that, and at the same time keep people safe.”
©2016 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
