Feds Ask States to Put the Brakes on Self-Driving Cars

With automakers inching closer to building vehicles that drive themselves, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington D.C. recently announced it was beginning an exhaustive study on the safety implications of so-called autonomous driving technology. In the meantime, however, NHTSA is also recommending states restrict them from public roads, except for research purposes. “We’re encouraged by the new automated vehicle technologies being developed and implemented today, but want to ensure that motor vehicle safety is considered in the development of these advances,” says NHTSA administrator, David Strickland. Still, technology marches ahead, with several cars on the road already able to perform autonomous functions, like automatically applying the brakes to help avoid or minimize collisions with other cars or even pedestrians. The latest adaptive cruise control systems can operate in stop-and-go traffic. Several models can guide themselves into parallel parking spaces, while Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti will be debuting systems later this year that manipulate a car’s steering to automatically keep it centered between highway lane markers.