No steering wheel — big problem.
Fully self-driving cars will have to be equipped with a brake pedal, mirrors and, yes, a steering wheel, according to revised safety rules being proposed by the Trump administration.
The proposed revisions come after General Motors, in January, sought an exemption from current Transportation Department rules to use vehicles without steering wheels and other types of human controls.
GM plans to launch a ride-sharing fleet in 2019.
The Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “intends to reconsider the necessity and appropriateness of its current safety standards” as applied to automated vehicles, it said in an 80-page update on self-driving cars.
Self-driving cars have the potential to dramatically reduce traffic crashes and road deaths, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said in the update. But at the same time, the “public has legitimate concerns about the safety, security, and privacy of automated technology,” Chao said.
In addition to GM’s plans for self-driving cars, Alphabet’s Waymo unit is planning to introduce an autonomous ride-hailing service — but its cars will have a steering wheel and other human controls.
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