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The Associated Press article about the California Department of Motor Vehicles proposed new rules for cars with autonomous driving features[1] suggests one reas
by tokenadult 11y ago
The Associated Press article about the California Department of Motor Vehicles proposed new rules for cars with autonomous driving features[1] suggests one reason to be pessimistic about the vision of rentable self-driving cars becoming a reality as soon as Google would like. (I would like it to be a reality soon, too, but I have to wait for what the technologists and regulators involved can do together to make that a reality for me.) A company that rents out rides to paying riders has to have a market to operate in, and any state could (and, if California is an example, maybe would) regulate that company in ways that might not make it a feasible business. A follow-up article on this news[2] says that Google is "disappointed" by the newly announced California rules.
[1] "California: Self-driving cars must have driver behind wheel under DMV proposed rules" (16 December 2015)
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29262037/california-self-driving-cars-must-have-driver-behind http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_29262037/california-s...
[2] "Google 'disappointed' by proposed restrictions on driverless cars" (16 December 2015)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2015/12/16/google-disappointed-by-proposed-rules-from-california-dmv/77447672/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2015/12/16/google-di...
- minwcnt5 11y agoI've never viewed these sorts of regulative barriers as anything more than a headache for Google. There's going to be some government somewhere on earth that will be gung ho about self-driving cars. Americans will not stand for the US not being #1, so regulators will be forced to do a rather quick 180 on this.
- glesica 11y agoMeh, Americans also don't like dying horribly and will freakout if they think something makes that more likely. The FDA is relatively conservative compared to many other countries and, especially after Thalidomide, most people probably appreciate that.