The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has removed a key barrier for Google and other companies developing autonomous technologies saying that the computer that handles the car can be considered as drivers under the federal law.
The regulatory clarification could give relief for those companies developing autonomous cars.
This comes as a response to Google's letter to NHTSA, dated November 12, 2015 where it has requested the NHTSA that its autonomous vehicles will never need a human driver.
Google's self driving car does not have steering wheel, no brake pedals and no controls of any sort that the human occupant could operate to control the vehicle.
According to the rules laid down by the NHTSA in 2013, Google has described its autonomous vehicle as Level 4 Full Self-Driving Automation.
According to the search major, a Level 4 vehicle "is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions for an entire trip."
"Such a design anticipates that the driver will provide destination or navigation input, but is not expected to be available for control at any time during the trip. This includes both occupied and unoccupied vehicles. By design, safe operation rests solely on the automated vehicle system."
In order to certify its self-driving vehicle to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), Google has sought the interpretation of driver, whether it is the autonomous technology or is it the person sitting in the driver position (the left front portion of the vehicle), etc.
The interpretation of driver was needed because, at the time of drafting the laws, it was assumed that in autonomous vehicles, there would be human intervention at some point or the other.
In this regard, the NHTSA has clarified that the artificial intelligence system in self-driving cars can be considered as driver and not to any of the vehicle's occupants.
NHTSA said: "Once the SDS is deemed to be the driver for purposes of a particular standard or test, the next question is whether and how Google could certify that the SDS meets a standard developed and designed to apply to a vehicle with a human driver.
"Related, in order for NHTSA to interpret a standard as allowing certification of compliance by a vehicle manufacturer, NHTSA must first have a test procedure or other means of verifying such compliance."
Image: Google Self Driving Car. Photo: Courtesy of Google
