Texas lawmakers address lack of regulations for driverless vehicles

Texas lawmakers talk safety of driverless cars

State lawmakers are working on ways to ensure the safety of riders and drivers sharing the roadways with autonomous vehicles.

AUSTIN, Texas - State lawmakers are working on ways to ensure the safety of riders and drivers sharing the roadways with autonomous vehicles.

A Senate transportation hearing held on Wednesday addressed the lack of regulation in Texas for driverless vehicles.

"To many of our first responders communities, this is new territory for them. They are not quite sure how to handle an AV. I mean pulling over an autonomous vehicle, you know, what do you do? An autonomous vehicle in an accident, what do you do?" says District 14 Texas State Senator Sarah Eckhardt.

"One of the key things is to prepare and actually submit and have a dialogue with first responders in this first responder interaction plan," says Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association General Council Ariel Wolf.

New safety concerns about driverless cars

There are new safety concerns about driverless cars that are on the road in Austin. Federal regulators are looking into whether Waymo's self-driving technology is actually causing crashes.

A senate transportation hearing focused on the safety of Texans using and sharing the roadways with autonomous vehicles, as the source of transportation continues to grow across the state.

"We have had at least 17 companies that have deployed or tested on roads here in Texas. As the technology matured and evolved, we fully expected that the laws would evolve as well," says Director of State Affairs Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Nick Steingart.

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Transportation experts presented methods to regulate autonomous vehicles and companies if safety concerns arise.

"We propose an adjustment that would allow the DMV to suspend or revoke the registration of an autonomous vehicle in certain circumstances, providing the DMV with the ability to review registrations to ensure that applicable requirements are met. The process would apply to all AV's regardless of vehicle class or use case," says Wolf.

"Everybody is not quite as safe as others and if somebody chooses not to be a safe provider, then the state at some point needs to be able to be in a position to step in and have a set of rules to follow that everybody understands and everybody agrees on what the rules are to start with," says District 13 Texas State Senator Robert Nichols.

Driverless cars coming back to Austin

The self-driving car company Waymo and the ride-share service Uber are partnering up to provide rides on the same app.

In 2017, Senate Bill 2205 allowed driverless vehicles on highways. The autonomous cars are required to follow traffic laws, have a video recording device, and be insured.

Since Texas enacted its AV law seven years ago, the state has become the center of the autonomous trucking industry in the United States.

"AV companies here have established commercial partnerships with major brands," says Wolf.

Senators also addressed concern about the economic impact driverless vehicles have on the state.

"There is a growing and expanding driver shortage and so the way the industry looks at it is proceeding in partnership with the existing workforce and being able to fill existing needs," says Wolf.

This month, Waymo did announce a partnership with Uber set to start testing at the beginning of the year, bringing more autonomous vehicles to Austin roadways.