California's Department of Motor Vehicles plans to have a set of regulations for driverless cars before the end of the year.
At an initial public hearing held in Sacramento on Tuesday, state officials began discussing potential hazards for autonomous vehicles, which experts believe could be commercially available within the decade. The DMV must outline a draft of self-driving car regulations by June to be able to get public comment and finalize the rules by the end of the year, The Associated Press reported.
The state has some big decisions to make especially since such basic questions as whether or not a person has to be in the driver's seat haven't been answered yet.
The DMV's next step is to decide what rules to implement when companies are testing driverless vehicles on public roads, according to the AP.
California officials have a tight deadline to figure out the answers to these tough questions, among others:
Will self-driving cars still require a driver behind the wheel?
What happens if an autonomous car is sent to park itself and hits another vehicle?
Will consumer data stay private or be used by marketers?
The privacy issue seemed to be most pressing for those at the meeting.
Driverless cars are required by the state to keep records in case of an accident, when the data can be used to determine what happened. But privacy advocates are concerned that the consumer information could be prey for third parties.
Cars "must not become another way to track us in our daily lives," said John M. Simpson of the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog, as reported by the AP.
Another issue is how driverless vehicles can be certified as safe. Ron Medford, Google's director of safety for its "self-driving car" project, said the manufacturer should be able to touch for the car's safety without getting the state involved, the AP reported.
If states have to regulate autonomous vehicles, "it would get complicated quickly," according to Medford.
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