California Says Autonomous Vehicles Don't Need Human Drivers

Aether Films

California relaxed several rules on self-driving cars as the state tries to maintain its status as a leading test bed for the future of transportation.

The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles released proposed regulations March 10 for autonomous vehicles, dropping an earlier requirement that a human driver had to be present while testing on public roads.

The DMV also backed down on a previous rule that vehicles needed a steering wheel and pedals for the operator to take back control.

“When we think of driverless vehicles, they can either have conventional controls, which are steering wheels, pedals, things like that, or they cannot," said California DMV Chief Counsel Brian Soublet during a conference call with reporters.

If companies test vehicles without conventional controls, they have to show the California DMV that they have the approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, he added. NHTSA said in early 2016 that self-driving software systems, not just humans, can be considered drivers.

California’s change of heart is likely good news for Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., which is developing self-driving software and vehicles through its Waymo division.

When the state’s DMV published draft regulations in late 2015 that required human drivers, a steering wheel and pedals, the company was "gravely disappointed." Google had recently built prototypes with no steering wheel or pedals, and it had to retrofit them to continue testing in California.

California’s new proposals follow a Michigan law passed in December, which allowed testing with no human driver. It also created a framework for selling autonomous cars that the California DMV also added to its proposed rules March 10.