Google Self-Driving Car Chief Urges Congress To OK Safety Tech
The chief of self-driving car development at Google told a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday that “Congress has a huge opportunity to help ensure that self-driving cars can be safely deployed at scale,” as the Alphabet ( GOOGL ) subsidiary and others push the pedal to the metal on the fast-emerging technology. Chris Urmson, director of the self-driving car program at Google X, was among those testifying at a hearing titled “Hands Off: The Future of Self-Driving Cars,” convened by U.S. Sen. John Thune, R.-S.D., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “We need cars that are fully self-driving,” Urmson said. “The car must be designed to do all the work, so the occupants are not expected to take control of the vehicle at any time.” Urmson pointed to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that “38,000 people were killed on America’s roads last year, and 94% of accidents involve human error. Self-driving cars can help us change that. Not only could our roads be a lot safer, but self-driving cars could bring everyday destinations and new opportunities within reach of those who might otherwise be excluded from their inability to drive a car.” Google is testing self-driving prototype vehicles in three states, driving 1.4 million miles “in autonomous mode” over the past several years, Urmson said. Senator Urges Rethink To Boost Self-Driving Cars Sen. Thune, in comments before the testimony by Urmson and others, sounded ready to act. He urged federal and state governments to rethink how they regulate and license vehicles for the future. “We must ensure that the United States remains the cradle of innovation and that we continue to lead the way in the development and deployment of automated vehicles,” Thune said. “In addition, questions regarding liability, insurance, privacy, security and infrastructure need answers. These aren’t small things, but none of them is insurmountable.” He pointed to the technology’s ability to not only clear up gridlock, but also improve communities. “To implement this future, we need to challenge ourselves to overcome the 20th century conception of what a car must have … and even the concept of a licensed human driver. Because so much is possible, we must be careful not to stymie innovation because of a lack of imagination,” he said. But the technology is facing a patchwork of state regulations. “Over the past two years, 23 states have introduced 53 pieces of legislation that affect autonomous vehicles, all of which include differ approaches and concepts,” Google’s Urmson said. The hearing comes a month after one of Google’s self-driving cars hit a municipal bus in California. Google has said new software changes will avoid future incidents, but at least one speaker Tuesday urged caution. Mary Louise Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Lab and Duke Robotics at Duke University, said there remain concerns over the cars’ sensors not working properly in some areas. Moreover, she said, “we know people will try to hack into these systems.” And the technology, while developing fast, remains relatively untested. She said that while Google’s cars have driven those 1.4 million miles the past several years, “New York cabs drive 1.4 million miles” every day. Still, there is no question automakers and tech firms are fast heading down the road toward the day they can start selling vehicles that can drive themselves. Apple ( AAPL ) is among those in the car game, it’s been widely reported, though the company hasn’t confirmed this. NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI ), Mobileye ( MBLY ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Ambarella ( AMBA ), among others, are partnering with automakers to develop chips and technology for self-driving cars and sophisticated safety systems in such cars. California’s Proposed Law Seen As Detour For Self-Driving Cars But Google and others have complained about laws impeding progress. In December, California proposed draft rules banning autonomous vehicles that aren’t equipped with human controls and don’t have a licensed human driver aboard. In January, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx introduced the Obama administration’s $4 billion, 10-year plan to get self-driving cars onto U.S. roads in “corridors” throughout the country. The NHTSA said this year that it may set aside some vehicle safety rules to allow more driverless cars to operate on U.S. roads, as part of a broader effort to speed up development of self-driving vehicles. On Friday, the NHTSA said in a report that there are significant legal hurdles to allowing fully autonomous vehicles without steering wheels, according to Reuters. The federal agency will write guidelines for self-driving cars within six months, Foxx said in January. Last month, the agency said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law.