[msb-alumni] Re: Michigan may soon allow self-driving cars on the road with no one behind the wheel

From: "Chris Rasmussen" <chrisnzella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2016 21:13:45 -0400

BlankIsn’t that the idea?? L O L

Chris Rasmussen...The Green Star system for John Deere still has the farmer in
the cab and he/she can take it off automatic in the field if he/she wants to.

From: Steve
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2016 7:03 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Michigan may soon allow self-driving cars on the road
with no one behind the wheel

I was just looking for the Detroit Lions and saw this on WJR's news section.

Michigan may soon allow self-driving cars on the road with no one behind the
wheel
by Chris Isidore   @CNNTech August 27, 2016: 9:31 AM ET

Michigan may soon become the first state to allow self-driving cars on the road
without a human driver sitting behind the steering wheel.
Lots of companies are already testing self-driving cars on the road all over
the country, but they have an actual driver at the controls, ready to take over
if there is a hazard.

Now a bill in Michigan proposes to allow these cars to hit the road without a
human at the wheel. The legislation is being proposed as an economic
development measure to keep and attract research and development jobs in the
state. The state senate's economic development committee will hold a hearing on
the bill on Wednesday, and its sponsor says it has bipartisan support that
should make passage fairly easy.

"I want to make sure we plant the flag here and we maintain the lead in terms
of automotive research and development," said Mike Kowall, the Republican state
senator who introduced the measure.

Kowall said the bill would allow the self-driving cars on any roads in the
state, including interstates and U.S. highways. He said there's no federal law
prohibiting the cars, but that right now every state requires a car to have a
driver.

The Michigan law even specifies who is on the hook if a self-driving car has an
accident -- according to Kowall, the liability will rest with the automaker and
its suppliers.

Related: True self-driving cars will arrive in 5 years, says Ford

Every major automaker is working on self-driving car technology, as are several
tech companies such as Google (GOOGL, Tech30). Earlier this month Ford (F)
predicted it would be mass producing a self-driving car without a steering
wheel, brake pedal or accelerator within five years.

But the safety of self-driving cars has come into question recently, especially
after a driver was killed in May while using Tesla's Autopilot feature. There
have been a handful of other, non-fatal accidents with Teslas that were in
Autopilot.

Tesla says it advises drivers to stay alert and ready to take control when
using Autopilot. It also said that its car owners have used Autopilot to drive
more than 130 million miles and this is the only fatality that has occurred,
making its track record safer than that of a typical driver.

There were more than 35,000 traffic fatalities on U.S. roads last year, and
U.S. safety regulators say that 94% of those accidents were caused by

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References:
- [msb-alumni] Michigan may soon allow self-driving cars on the road with no one behind the wheel
  - From: Steve

[msb-alumni] Re: Michigan may soon allow self-driving cars on the road with no one behind the wheel

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