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States Devise New Self-Driving Laws

In many states, including California, new regulations limiting the full testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs) has quickly become a major priority as the self-driving evolution gains major momentum.

At Hendrick Collision Center Of Kansas City at Kansas City, MO we are excited about the advent of autonomous cars, so we're happy to provide our blog readers with this news.

Recently, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe claimed announced that his state will soon be known as “the capital of autonomous vehicles,” and the state’s highly-respected Transportation Director, Aubrey Layme, invited any car company to develop a pilot program on the roads and highways of Virginia. To get into the game, the state must devise laws to deal with autonomous vehicles and remove all of the ambiguity that currently exists, Layme said.

Another state that is jumping into the fray is Arizona, where its Governor Doug Ducey took the spotlight later last year when Google’s Waymo picked up passengers in autonomous SUVs in Phoenix, right after Uber’s Otto subsidiary sent a self-driving tractor-trailer that was loaded with beer on a 120-mile sojourn in Colorado.

Yes, governors in a handful of different states are very excited about autonomous travel and eager to compete with California who seems to be leading the way. California is surpassing the other states and has already reached several AV-testing milestones along the way with a focus on creating jobs and improving peoples' lives.

Politicians know all too well that autonomous travel is a hot topic and that people are intrigued by it. Leaders at the Colorado Department of Transportation are performing AV tests to give their state a lead position when it comes to innovation and economic development.

So the question is--should a governor think about their state’s autonomous vehicles policy? Should they just sit back and let other states go first when it comes to AV testing? Maybe that's a good idea, especially if that state isn’t already an established hub for transportation companies or university research concerning mobility. The idea is to let the other states make their mistakes and let the lagging ones learn from their missteps.

Governors in states like Texas or Michigan that already have a substantial transportation industry could justifiably pursue AV technology as a sage strategy for economic development. Some states would be smart to support local research on any form of AV technology, as Michigan has done with MCity, an autonomous technology testing course located in Ann Arbor. Michigan’s strategy of linking research to AV development is highly unusual, but it could work that would give them a distinct advantage.

It's a race to becoming a leader in AV technology, and it looks like California, Virginia, Michigan and Texas are at the head of the pack with the goal of being an innovator and providing jobs for its inhabitants.

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Sources: LA Times and CBNC.com