Google self-driving car has received a positive affirmation from the US Vehicle Safety Regulators. The US vehicle safety regulators have said that the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law. The approval is a major step toward ultimately launching Google self-driving autonomous vehicles on the roads.
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On 4th February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, through a letter, informed Google that AI based Google Car can be considered drivers under federal law. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Chief Counsel Paul Hemmersbaugh said, "Google’s self-driving car unit on Nov. 12 submitted a proposed design for a self-driving car that has no need for a human driver and NHTSA will interpret ‘driver' in the context of Google’s described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants". He further said, "we agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a ‘driver’ in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years".
In response to Chief Counsel Paul statement, Karl Brauer, senior analyst for the Kelley Blue Book automotive research firm, said there were still significant legal questions surrounding autonomous vehicles. But if “NHTSA is prepared to name artificial intelligence as a viable alternative to human-controlled vehicles, it could substantially streamline the process of putting autonomous vehicles on the road,” he said.
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Though, Google has got approval by NHTSA, but still need to finalise the various standards before the final approval, for manufacturing and commercial use, by the US Government. Google is “still evaluating” NHTSA’s lengthy response, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. Google executives have said they would likely partner with established automakers to build self-driving cars.