NHTSA releases self-driving car guidelines

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In a long-anticipated move, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a set of guidelines for autonomous vehicles, according to The New York Times. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and National Economic Council Director Jeffrey Zients announced the guidelines, which fall short of official regulations, at an appearance on Monday.

Here's what was included:

• A 15-point safety assessment that automakers should ensure their autonomous car meets. The assessment addressed safeguarding consumer privacy, reacting to failures in autonomous technology, and protecting the passenger in a crash.
• A request for states to develop uniform policies for driverless cars. Previously the NHTSA had said that it would not stop states from setting their own standards for autonomous vehicles as long as they did not conflict with federal law. However, this move signals the NHTSA is saying states should work together.
• Clarification about how regulations will be applied to self-driving cars. The NHTSA and the Department of Transportation share federal regulatory authority over automobiles, and the two agencies elaborated on which current regulations will govern autonomous vehicles.

In their announcement the government urged manufacturers to share their process for how the technology is approved to hit the roads and how vehicles will share valuable safety information.Further, the NHTSA noted how it will be asserting its ability to recall any autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle that does not meet its safety standards.

Industry representatives had emphasized that a consistent set of federal guidelines rather than many state laws would allow self-driving technologies to reach their full potential. Zients noted how states can decide whether vehicles can be tested on their public roads, but that all state regulations must not violate federal law. 

Overall, the NHTSA guidelines are a ringing endorsement of autonomous vehicles and will not slow companies down from bringing them to market. Proponents of self-driving cars had hoped for a set of uniform regulations so that vehicles can be tested on roads across the US, which should speed up testing for autonomous vehicles in the future. With automakers, tech companies, and ride-hailing services already looking to develop a self-driving vehicle to build out a driverless taxi service, regulatory approval is the necessary first step before companies can move forward.

John Greenough, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, has compiled a detailed report on self-driving cars that examines the major strides automakers and tech companies have made to overcome the barriers currently preventing fully autonomous cars from hitting the market. Further, the report examines global survey results showing where fully autonomous cars are highly desired.

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Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Three barriers have been preventing fully autonomous cars from hitting the road: 1) high technological component prices; 2) varying degrees of consumer trust in the technology; and 3) relatively nonexistent regulations. However, in the past six months, there have been many advances in overcoming these barriers.
• Technology has been improving as new market entrants find innovative ways to expand on existing fully autonomous car technology. As a result, the price of the components required for fully autonomous cars has been dropping.
• Consumer trust in fully autonomous vehicle technology has increased in the past two years.
• California became the first US state to propose regulations. California's regulations stipulate that a fully autonomous car must have a driver behind the wheel at all times, discouraging Google's and Uber's idea of a driverless taxi system.

In full, the report:

• Examines consumer trust in fully autonomous vehicles
• Identifies technological advancements that have been made in the industry
• Analyzes the cost of fully autonomous technology and identifies how cost is being reduced
• Explains the current regulations surrounding fully autonomous cars

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