U.S. Moves toward Driverless Future. How Should the Government Regulate It?

January 26, 2018

As tech innovators continue to move forward with making self-driving vehicles ubiquitous, the U.S. government could have a new problem on its hands as it grapples with how to regulate what is still a largely-burgeoning industry.

“The transformative nature of technology in transportation is very exciting,” Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said during an interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “But it also cautions us to address issues about safety, security, accessibility, and also privacy.”

When driverless cars actually hit the road remains to be seen, but the race is on. Ford (F) announced that it plans to build a fully driverless car for commercial purposes by 2021, and Uber partnered with Volvo to roll out a self-driving fleet. Most likely, Chao said, the switch to automated cars won’t occur as fast as some have predicted, but perhaps sooner than expected.

A large selling point for driverless vehicles is the safety aspect: Roughly 32,000 people are killed and more than 2 million are injured in car crashes every year. More than 90% of those are caused by human error.

Source: Fox Business