The artificial intelligence controlling Google's driverless cars is can officially be classed as the "driver," US officials have clarified.
Bureaucrats at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), according to Reuters, sent a letter to Google saying humans inside autonomous vehicles aren't classed as drivers. "NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants," the letter to Google, sent in early February, said. "We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years."
The admission that the car is actually the driver can be seen as a big win for Google, which has, along with other manufacturers, been battling for regulations that do not require autonomous cars to have steering wheels in case of emergency.
Officials in California are developing a full legal framework to regulate how driverless cars can operate in the state. One proposed regulation says: "Autonomous vehicle operators must be a licensed driver who possesses an autonomous vehicle operator certificate issued by the DMV".
Google met the draft plans with anguish saying it was "disappointed" with the plans. The Alphabet owned company previously said its autonomous cars would eventually, when the law allows, be developed without any steering wheels or pedals. A spokesperson for Google told Reuters it is "still evaluating" the response from the NHTSA.
The most recent decision may lower the quantity of red-tape needed for driverless cars to be used on roads as it acknowledges artificial intelligence systems would be able to safely take control of the vehicles. But there will still be multiple hurdles for those developing driverless cars to cross. "The next question is whether and how Google could certify that the (self-driving system) meets a standard developed and designed to apply to a vehicle with a human driver," NHTSA said in its letter. The NHTSA doesn't make it clear what standards a self-driving system would need to meet to be considered safe, but it isn't beyond comprehension that an AI driving test could be developed for cars to be deemed safe.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
