Business & Tech

Tesla News: Government Drops the Green Flag in Race to Driverless Car

DOT issues guidelines that clear the way for driverless technology.

Bea Karnes, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

FREMONT, CA — After being stuck in the slow lane for years behind government policymakers, Tesla and other automakers got the green light Wednesday to speed ahead with driverless technology. Tesla assembles cars at its Fremont facility.

As the U.S. Department of Transportation issued federal policy for automated vehicles, the agency called the move a safety advancement.

“Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This policy is an unprecedented step by the federal government to harness the benefits of transformative technology by providing a framework for how to do it safely.”

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“Ninety-four percent of crashes on U.S. roadways are caused by a human choice or error,” said NHTSA Administrator Dr. Mark Rosekind. “We are moving forward on the safe deployment of automated technologies because of the enormous promise they hold to address the overwhelming majority of crashes and save lives.”

Here's a summary of the policy:

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  • 15 Point Safety Assessment –The Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles for manufacturers, developers and other organizations includes a 15 point “Safety Assessment” for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles.
  • Model State Policy – This section presents a clear distinction between Federal and State responsibilities for regulation of highly automated vehicles, and suggests recommended policy areas for states to consider with a goal of generating a consistent national framework for the testing and deployment of highly automated vehicles.
  • NHTSA’s Current Regulatory Tools – This discussion outlines NHTSA’s current regulatory tools that can be used to ensure the safe development of new technologies, such as interpreting current rules to allow for greater flexibility in design and providing limited exemptions to allow for testing of nontraditional vehicle designs in a more timely fashion.
  • Modern Regulatory Tools – This discussion identifies new regulatory tools and statutory authorities that policymakers may consider in the future to aid the safe and efficient deployment of new lifesaving technologies.

    • So far, Tesla has not issued a statement regarding the government policies.

    --Image via Tesla

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