California DMV vs. Uncle Sam

OAKLAND, Calif. – On Friday, the California DMV eased some restrictions on GM’s Cruise, the autonomous vehicle being tested on the streets of San Francisco. 

At the same time, the federal Auto Safety Agency announced an investigation into several crashes and street blockages involving the Cruise while the company awaits regulatory approval to expand its autonomous “robotaxi” in San Francisco.

As Cruises have already undergone testing on the streets of San Francisco, three hard-breaking crashes have been reported; two involving injuries.

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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will focus on if the hard breakings were inappropriate and why the driverless vehicles became immobilized on public roads. Once analyzed, the agency can respond to safety issues through more technical investigations and, if necessary, enforcement.

Cruise declined an interview but wrote that though it will cooperate with the probe; “there’s always a balance between healthy regulatory scrutiny and the innovation we desperately need to save lives.”

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is an insurance industry-supported, research group that believes, that though true self-driving vehicles are still far off, already well-proven technologies such as automatic braking and lane keeping should be added to all cars now. 

Currently, developers call driverless cars autonomous because no one says they cannot. 

“The automated driving system doesn’t have any safety standards…there’s nothing preventing that from being on our roads, and that’s a big concern,” said 

UC Berkeley autonomous vehicle expert and professor Ben McKeever shared his thoughts with KTVU about how long until truly autonomous cars can drive themselves anywhere and everywhere. 

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“I think we’re still 20 years off before we see that in a widespread manner,” said McKeever.

Attorney and auto safety expert and former head of the federal Auto Safety Agency Joan Claybrook says this puts other drivers and pedestrians in danger. 

“Without having federal standards that they have to meet when they put these vehicles on the road, the public has no protection. None. And, the companies are not violating anything by doing it,” said Claybrook.

Every serious engineer interviewed by KTVU over recent years, not directly connected to a company developing such cars, says truly autonomous cars are at least two decades away.