California has conditionally made first-in-the-nation allowances for the public road testing of autonomous vehicles by easing the requirement for safety driver fallbacks or the presence of human controls.
The Golden State became an early adopter of driverless regulation when it passed in 2012 one the country’s first loose frameworks for autonomous vehicles.
The years since marked something of a calm in the autonomous vehicle regulatory space–including California, only 9 states adopted even loose driverless regulations–but the federal government triggered something of an arms race among the states last month when regulators at the US Department of Transportation gave the green light to driverless cars in guidance to state lawmakers and technologists.
In the days since the DOT’s announcement, California’s governor signed into law a first-in-the-nation bill allowing for the public road testing of Level 4 autonomy robotic-controlled driverless cars at two specially designated sites. Separately, the California Department of Motor Vehicles unveiled new driverless guidelines permitting the remote monitored, robotic operation of an autonomous car that lacks any human controls.
Keep an eye on our federal policy and Dentons 50 verticals for more on state and federal attempts to regulate driverless cars over the coming months.
