US authorities will allow autonomous cars to not need to be equipped with a steering wheel or pedals after General Motors (GM) requested the production of self-driving vehicles, without traditional manual controls.
Until now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required that the design of commercial automobiles include elements so that a driver could control the vehicle.
But after GM’s request, NHTSA determined that in those vehicles that are designed to be operated exclusively by automatic driving systems (ADS for its acronym in English), “the controls to manually carry out the driving are, logically, unnecessary”, noted US media.
The new regulations add that to approve their circulation, autonomous cars have to provide “the same high levels of occupant protection” that the current ones have and that they must meet federal, state and local safety standards.
About 30 companies and organizations have received authorization from the US authorities to test autonomous cars, or with high degrees of automation, on the country’s roads.
Among them are Waymo, a unit of Alphabet, and Cruise, the GM subsidiary dedicated to the development of autonomous cars.
Cruise has indicated in the past that he plans to begin production and marketing of his Origin model in early 2023.
In February of this year, he said Origin, a four-person electric vehicle, was “intentionally designed from the ground up to operate without a human driver“so you don’t need”human-centric features“like a steering wheel”to operate safely”.
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
