Cherry Hill Car Accident Lawyers Discuss Regulations for Self-Driving Cars

According to the technical leader of Google’s self-driving car project, legislators in 23 different states have already introduced 53 bills regulating self-driving cars (also called autonomous cars). If every state is left to devise its own regulations governing these vehicles, there would be problems operating autonomous cars over state lines. Innovation would be hindered. In early March of 2016, representatives from various companies developing self-driving cars urged Congress to regulate these vehicles at the national level.

Representatives from Google, General Motors, ride-sharing service Lyft and auto supplier Delphi recently delivered their remarks during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. These companies claim that cars that only occasionally need a driver’s intervention will be on our roads in a few years, while completely self-driving cars will follow just several years later. Vice president of strategy and global portfolio planning for General Motors says that GM plans to introduce partially autonomous cars within a couple of years. GM will initially partner with ride-sharing mobile-app Lyft in bringing this new technology to the streets.

The Obama administration has proposed spending nearly $4,000,000 over ten years to assist in the development of self-driving cars and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Transportation Secretary, Anthony Foxx, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) administrator, Mark Rosekind, have both shared their plan to use software and sensors to make self-driving cars practically error-proof. The goal is to someday reach a point where no people are fatally injured in car accidents.

But for now, engineers are still working out a few kinks in the system. Specifically, engineers must protect vehicles from cyber attacks (which could set a car’s GPS off course) and ensure self-driving cars can manage bad weather. Critics have also noted that lasers could be used to trick autonomous cars into thinking that there is an obstacle where there really is none, forcing them to slam on the brakes in an unsafe manner.

Cherry Hill Car Accident Lawyers at DiTomaso Law Pursue Maximum Compensation for Victims of Auto Collisions

Unfortunately, sometimes drivers can be careless—it is human nature to be imperfect and make mistakes. Until these error-proof autonomous vehicles have been thoroughly safety-tested and approved for legal use, people will continue to be injured in collisions caused by negligent and reckless drivers. If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident, the experienced Cherry Hill car accident lawyers at DiTomaso Law can help. With offices located in Cherry Hill and Philadelphia, we advocate for injured victims throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. To schedule a free consultation, call us at 856-414-0100 or contact us online today.