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posted by martyb on Monday July 29 2019, @02:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Restarting-AV-START dept.

A new bill is being written with input from both the House and Senate in the hopes of speeding the introduction of self driving vehicles on the roads.

Similar legislation last year (the SELF DRIVE Act in the House and the 'AV START Act' in the Senate) failed to pass even though amended repeatedly in response to Democrat

raised objections that it didn’t do enough to address safety concerns. The hope is that with Democrats now in control of the House, a bill can be crafted from the start that addresses those concerns.

The new bipartisan legislation will also address

what these vehicles look like in the future, allowing for automakers to manufacture vehicles without steering wheels, gas, and brake pedals so long as the Department of Transportation exempts them from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

Movement on this front was unexpected considering that

the AV industry has mostly dialed down its efforts in Washington. According to Politico, lobbying on driverless cars dropped 35 percent between the end of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

Perhaps due to focusing on technical challenges.


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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 29 2019, @02:21AM (10 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 29 2019, @02:21AM (#872495)

    Try. Fail.

    Try again. Fail again. Fail better next time.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 29 2019, @02:48AM (9 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @02:48AM (#872498) Journal

    Try again. Fail again. Fail better next time.

    Yes, but politixheads need the illusion it was them that made it happen, technical challenges be damned.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday July 29 2019, @02:59AM (8 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday July 29 2019, @02:59AM (#872499)

      The bit that caught my eye was :

      the AV industry has mostly dialed down its efforts in Washington. According to Politico, lobbying on driverless cars dropped 35 percent between the end of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

      Which seems to imply that legislation doesn't get worked on unless some industry or other is paying for it.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 29 2019, @03:03AM (2 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 29 2019, @03:03AM (#872501)

        Which seems to imply that legislation doesn't get worked on unless some industry or other is paying for it.

        Are you surprised? The legislative session is short, who's got time to write bills? Lobbyists, that's who.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday July 29 2019, @03:56AM (1 child)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday July 29 2019, @03:56AM (#872515)

          Not surprised, just disappointed.

          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 29 2019, @11:59AM

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 29 2019, @11:59AM (#872590)

            Disappointment is the biggest part of learning about how our governmental systems work. They really should start teaching the disappointment phase around middle school - definitely before voting age.

            --
            🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 29 2019, @03:45AM (4 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @03:45AM (#872513) Journal

        Which seems to imply that legislation doesn't get worked on unless some industry or other is paying for it.

        Yes, but, one step further... why doesn't the AV industry lobby as much as in previous years?
        Maybe it's time for politicos to offer some incentive to boost those lobby efforts?
        I don't know, like tax concessions or... letting some carnage be free in some US cities?

        (large green grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by wisnoskij on Monday July 29 2019, @05:01AM (1 child)

          by wisnoskij (5149) <reversethis-{moc ... ksonsiwnohtanoj}> on Monday July 29 2019, @05:01AM (#872529)

          Maybe just common sense? After a few of these bills being passed around congress they finally realized that there is no way anyone is going to pass legislature in America exempting for profit companies from wrongful death liability. And the accountants were asked to tabulate how much they would have to charge per vehicle if the manufacturer had to pay for every dent and every death that car caused over its lifetime.

          As long as the legislation never gets passed, it will be possible to pay some insurance holder to sleep in the vehicle for half of minimum wage.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 29 2019, @12:05PM

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 29 2019, @12:05PM (#872594)

            In 2009 I approached an insurer about basic liability coverage for operation of a 6lb drone for the purposes of aerial mapping. They came back with a quote somewhere in the range of $25K per year per drone in operation, with provisos for fully trained operators, etc. Combine that with the legal restrictions in place at the time and the only people willing to engage with drone operation were law enforcement who basically didn't give a shit about liability or legal ramifications when they were using the real-time drone imagery to reduce life safety risk for their officers during no-knock warrant service on drug operations.

            --
            🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 29 2019, @10:06AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 29 2019, @10:06AM (#872570)

          Politicians that vote to put automated killmobiles on the roads aren't likely to get re-elected next time, no matter how much bribe money lobbyists give them.

          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 29 2019, @11:23AM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @11:23AM (#872584) Journal

            Politicians that vote to put automated killmobiles on the roads aren't likely to get re-elected next time, no matter how much bribe money lobbyists give them.

            Don't be naive. You think the Silly Valley representatives would lose anything if they vote a bill that lets automated killmobiles free to roam in Chicago? I reckon quite the contrary will happen. (grin)

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford