Michigan Mulls Autonomous Vehicle Licensing

In his annual State of the State address delivered in January, Michigan governor Rick Snyder is calling for the state to approve legislation allowing the use of autonomous vehicles on their public roads. Proposed just weeks prior, the fast tracked bill is up for voting at the end of the month, following a hearing from the Senate Transportation Committee, and would allow companies like General Motors, Toyota, and Google to continue real world testing of their self-driving technologies in hopes of reaching mass public implementation. If passed, Michigan would become just the fourth state to allow self-driving cars, along with California, Florida, and Nevada.

The bill, introduced on February 7th by Senator Mike Kowall, would “help ensure that research and development expenditures and taxes related to automated vehicles stay in Michigan”. Self-driven vehicles would be designated by a special “M” license plate, and would require a driver in the driver’s seat at all times to take over control in an emergency situation. Any vehicle from a car maker or “upfitter” (a company refitting its technology onto a pre-existing vehicle, such as Google) with an M license plate would be given full access to roads to test as seen fit, within the confines of pre-established traffic laws.

Representatives from Google have already spoken at a committee hearing held last week to argue for the bill’s passing, and General Motors is set to do the same in the coming days. An outstanding concern for automakers is liability in the case of an accident; they would like assurances implemented into the bill preventing the possibility of facing liability should a company such as Google modify one of their vehicles and crash it.

Eager to keep Michigan relevant in the automotive industry into the future, Kowall has presented a wealth of data highlighting the state’s role in self-driving car technology. According to research from the Michigan Economic Development Corp, more than 330 local companies are involved in the development of automotive technology, spending more than $11 billion annually. By allowing autonomous vehicle testing, they would be able to maintain this development role. Continental, a Michigan based company working heavily on self-driving cars, has already moved much of its testing to Nevada; by issuing licenses of their own, Michigan could retain Continental’s efforts.

As more states look to open their roads to this possible future of transportation, the federal government is also hard at work developing standardized regulations setting safety and performance standards upon reaching mass implementation. Having conducted “numerous” talks with Google, GM, Toyota, and others working on self-driving technology, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced in October its plans to establish its official rules for autonomous vehicles, while the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the insurance industry work to solve liability issues in the event of an accident.

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland has gone on record saying that the benefits of self-driving cars could be “game changing”, dramatically reducing the number of fatal accidents each year, cutting fuel costs by as much as $100 billion a year, and allowing the vision impaired to get where they need to go entirely on their own, among much more. According to some estimates, the elimination of driver error could reduce the fatal accident rate by as much as 80%, saving thousands of lives each year.

However, before these driverless cars can become available to the public, more work is needed to ensure that they themselves do not become a danger to those on board. Should an emergency situation develop, the lack of a driver with critical thinking skills could pose problems. Security issues are also a concern, as software could be hacked by those will malicious intent, sending vehicles to destinations unwanted. Trust will still need to grow before consumers accept being driven by lifeless robots, though with more 300,000 miles driven already, Google is working hard to prove the safety of their technology.