Self-driving cars for testing get US support

Companies from Silicon Valley to Detroit are developing cars that park,steer,drive themselves.

Companies from Silicon Valley to Detroit to Germany are developing cars that park,steer and even drive themselves. Now the federal agency for traffic safety has said it wants to come along for the ride.

On Thursday,the transportation department made its first formal policy statement on autonomous vehicles. In a non-binding recommendation to the states,it said that driverless cars should not yet be allowed,except for testing. But it said that semi-autonomous features,like cars that keep themselves centred in lanes and adjust their speed based on the location of the car ahead,could save lives.

The statement,from the departments highway safety agency,comes as companies,led by Google,have made significant technological strides in making cars that drive themselves,but still face daunting legal,regulatory and cultural hurdles before the cars are widely available to drivers. It is the latest example of the tension between technological innovation and regulation,which move at very different speeds.

It is also a time of rapid change,and some anxiety,about autonomous systems in general. The transportation department is struggling,for instance,to determine how to regulate drone aircraft.

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The statement detailed the benefits of self-driving and semi-autonomous cars,which analysts said was a recognition by government officials that it had no choice but to keep up with the advancing technology in this area,which falls on a continuum from cruise control to full automation.

Its not that theyre trying to put the brakes on it, said Richard Wallace,director of transportation systems analysis at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor,Michigan. Theyre trying to get out in front of it.

Still,the highway safety agency was careful to address the tension between technology and regulation. Any potential regulatory action must appropriately balance the need to ensure motor vehicle safety with the flexibility to innovate, it said.

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Even though technology companies like Google generally fear that innovation far outpaces regulation and risks being stifled by it,it has a different approach with cars than with software or cellphones because cars have been heavily regulated for decades,said Ryan Calo,a law professor at the University of Washington who co-founded the Legal Aspects of

Autonomous Driving centre at Stanford.

We want to have some experimentation in the states to see what works,but its nice to have federal experts helping out,as long as they dont take it too far, he said.

Autonomous cars could increase safety because they are not subject to human error like disobeying traffic laws and falling asleep at the wheel,according to analysts,car companies and the transportation department. They could also offer mobility to people who cannot drive,like the disabled or the aging.

Driverless cars could change our lives,give us more green space,mobility,fewer hours wasted, Larry Page,Googles chief executive,said this month. The average American spends 50 minutes commuting. Imagine if you got that back.

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Still,many Americans are dubious about automated driving,according to a poll by the Auto Alliance,a Washington trade group.

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