Google, Uber, Lyft, Ford and Volvo, all of which are working on self-driving car technology, have formed a lobbying group to take on government regulations of autonomous vehicles.
The group, which calls itself the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, argues that self-driving cars will reduce the severity and frequency of crashes, but that more needs to be done by legislators to facilitate the implementation of autonomous technology into production models.
The lobby group says it will work with lawmakers, regulators and the public “to realise the safety and social benefits it provides”.
Volvo’s chief executive, Håkan Samuelsson, has been particularly vocal. “The sooner AD [autonomous driving] cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved," he said. "[But] the car industry cannot do it all by itself, we need governmental help.”
Ford has has also emphasised the importance of new legislation, saying it believes fully autonomous vehicles will help people travel more safely while also bringing mobility to those who currently are unable to drive.
The UK is at the forefront of autonomous technology development. Jaguar Land Rover’s own self-driving project recently received £3.41 million worth of funding from the UK government, and Volvo will be using London’s roads to test its future systems.
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Can't wait
Autocar readers will be the weirdo exceotions - like the Will Smith character in the sci-fi move I-Robot.
Personally, I find it hilarious that Uber is moving to remove the only part of their value chain that they don't take the income for. The easier to fleece the rest of us.
AV
...and that internet shopping thing will never take off!
Sat Navs, Internet shopping, streaming media, social networks all things the Luddites said would never work.
"An AV will never be able to replace a human", we hear this all the time, but the fact is there are computers in your car making decisions for you now - traction control, autonomous breaking, active cruise control, heck there are even computers automatically dipping and raising the high beam!
The bit I find most ridiculous about the nay sayers is that generally their argument revolves around the technology not being as safe as human drivers. Human drivers are very unsafe, a Google search for statistics on road accidents will tell you that much; but even just colloquially, how many times have you been driving and seen someone's lack of concentration or terrible decision making result in a near-miss that might have resulted in a terrible accident if the timings had been slightly different. A machine that doesn't tire, doesn't get distracted, has a spherical, multi-spectrum view of the world and has a high and consistent driving ability will always be safer than a human driver. To judge the total potential of AV's by the standards of the prototypes we've seen so far would be idiotic. You only need to look at the progress they have made in the last few years to see that the capability trend is steep and upward.
This is inevitable! It's one thing to proclaim that you like driving (as most people on this site probably do) and that the idea of not driving any more worries you; but to proclaim this will never happen or that a human driver cannot be beaten on safety is like putting your head in the sand - worse still, it's this sort of fear mongering that the media repeats and which ultimately holds us back!