Skip to main content

California self-driving car rules ‘perplexing’

California’s Department of Motor vehicles (DMV) has issued its draft self-driving vehicle deployment regulations, which, according to Google’s self-driving car chief, Chris Urmson, are perplexing. The DMV has proposed a draft rule that would require a self-driving car to have a licensed driver at all times. Urmson says that while this maintains the same old status quo, it falls short on allowing this technology to reach its full potential, while excluding those who need to get around but cannot drive.
December 21, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

California’s Department of Motor vehicles (DMV) has issued its draft self-driving vehicle deployment regulations, which, according to Google’s self-driving car chief, Chris Urmson, are perplexing.

The DMV has proposed a draft rule that would require a self-driving car to have a licensed driver at all times. Urmson says that while this maintains the same old status quo, it falls short on allowing this technology to reach its full potential, while excluding those who need to get around but cannot drive.

He says, “While we’re disappointed by this, we will continue to work with the DMV as they seek feedback in the coming months, in the hope that we can recapture the original spirit of the bill.

“California is a state with both world-class car culture and world-class innovation, and we can do better. Instead of putting a ceiling on the potential of self-driving cars, let’s have the courage to imagine what California would be like if we could live without the shackles of stressful commutes, wasted hours, and restricted mobility for those who want the independence that the automobile has always represented.”

The DMV has scheduled two public workshops, the first on 28 January in Sacramento and the second in Los Angeles on 2 February to allow interested parties to provide input on the draft regulations.

Related Content

  • Hayden AI’s Renee Autumn Ray: ‘It’s about problem solving’
    December 6, 2022
    Renee Autumn Ray is senior director of global strategy for Hayden AI. She has also admitted to impostor syndrome, has no time for people who scorn the public sector and offers one simple rule about social media. Adam Hill meets her to find out what that is, among other things
  • Traffic cameras embrace AI
    December 19, 2022
    Artificial intelligence is spreading into many aspects of mobility – but what about traffic management and enforcement cameras? ITS International invited a few vision experts to ponder a couple of leading questions…
  • Drivers with up to 42 points still on the road
    September 5, 2013
    New figures from the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have revealed that motorists with up to 42 penalty points on their licence are still driving on Britain’s roads. Drivers can be banned from the road if they accumulate 12 points on their licence over a three-year period, but there are 8,000 drivers still getting behind the wheel despite having reached or exceeded that number.
  • Cruise pauses 'supervised and manual' AV operations in US
    November 20, 2023
    This will affect around 70 vehicles, AV company says, in move to 'rebuild public trust'