While the legality of fully autonomous vehicles remains ambiguous, Alphabet’s Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has convinced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that company’s artificial intelligence, the the brains behind the driverless project, is safe.
Google strongly advocates autonomous driving technologies, and is not the only one involved in a scuffle with regulatory authorities. Several other tech and automobile manufacturing companies have had a similar to and fro with regulators.
In a letter on February 4th, the NHTSA told Google it recognizes the AI in Google’s autonomous pod-like car as a ‘driver’, thereby establishing that the technology is considered safe enough to drive passengers.
The development will open new doors for automobile manufactures working to bring autonomous cars to roads. Google has made a lot of headway in the journey towards autonomous vehicles, but the tech company lacks expertise in elements including car design, and countless other dynamics for a commercially viable product.
To counter these limitations, Silicon Valley giants will predictably pair up with a high profile automaker, which will allow the particular tech companies to focus on the development of the AI, and leave other dynamics to manufacturing experts.
Regulatory authorities need to keep up with the rapid advancements in the segment. Since human safety is the foremost concern for authorities, minimal safety risks of autonomous driving technology must be allowed to pave a faster shift towards self driven cars. The benefits are limitless, since the technology will not only promote road transportation over longer distances, but also increase passenger experience.
Many predict that ride-sharing will soon become more popular than conventional car ownership. However, this will have a domino effect on current ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, since the transition will result in conventional automakers placing a foot in the ride-sharing segment.
Except for Porsche, several auto manufactures have displayed exceptional support for the development of autonomous driving technology. The industry is witnessing a rapid change in the trend, and GM has already launched a ride-sharing service called Maven, while Ford is ramping up its investments in similar ventures.
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