WASHINGTON — Fully self-driving cars may be on the fast lane to U.S. roads under a pilot program the Trump administration said on Tuesday it was considering, which would allow real-world road testing for a limited number of the vehicles.
Self-driving cars used in the program would potentially need to have technology disabling the vehicle if a sensor fails or barring vehicles from traveling above safe speeds, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document made public Tuesday.
NHTSA said it was considering whether it would have to be notified of any accident within 24 hours and was seeking public input on what other data should be disclosed including near misses.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation in 2017 to speed the adoption of self-driving cars, but the Senate has not approved it. Several safety groups oppose the bill, which is backed by carmakers. It has only a slender chance of being approved in 2018, congressional aides said.
NHTSA said the pilot project would seek to find “how best to foster the safe introduction of vehicles with high and full driving automation onto our nation’s roadways.”
Real world data would help create methods “of validating the safety performance” of self-driving vehicles and writing safety rules, it added.
Last week, the Trump administration said it was working to revise safety rules that bar fully self-driving cars from the roads without equipment such as steering wheels, pedals and mirrors.
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