U.S. Senate panel approves self-driving car legislation
Wednesday, October 4, 2017 · 5:44 pm ·
“A U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday unanimously gave the green light to a bill aimed at speeding the use of self-driving cars without human controls, barring states from imposing regulatory road blocks,” David Shepardson reports for Reuters. “After unanimous approval by the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the full Senate must take up the bill. The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a similar bill last month.”
“Like the House bill, the Senate version does not include allowing exemptions to speed approval of self-driving technology for large commercial trucks. Despite complaints from some Republicans, the panel opted not to include them after labor unions raised safety and employment concerns,” Shepardson reports. “The measure is the first significant federal legislation addressing self-driving cars. It would allow automakers to win exemptions from safety rules that require cars to have human controls.”
“Senator John Thune, the Republican who chairs the Commerce Committee, said the bill ‘underscores the bipartisan desire to move ahead with self-driving vehicle technology… The safety and economic benefits of self-driving vehicles are too critical to delay,'” Shepardson reports. “Several Republican senators noted the strong support of trucking organizations to include vehicles over 10,000 pounds, but Democrats resisted that part of the proposal. Tesla Inc, Alphabet, Uber Technologies Inc and others have said they are working on self-driving trucks.”
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