Lawmakers in Massachusetts are hard at work altering road rules as driverless cars edge closer to hit the state’s streets.
Two separate bills have hit the state legislature and both look at the best way to deter autonomous vehicle owners from having their vehicles drive around Boston’s streets without any occupants on board.
Speaking with Metro, Sen. Jason Lewis said that these so-called ‘zombie cars’ could further clog up Boston’s streets.
“We could have situations where people with autonomous vehicles go somewhere and because there is either very little parking or because they don’t want to pay for parking, they could just have their cars just driving around and clogging up the roads,” he said.
In an effort to deter owners from doing this, one bill suggests that self-driving vehicles should be charged per mile they drive. The base rate could sit at 2.5 cents per mile, the bill suggests.
“The rate would be mostly based on miles, but would make it go up or down depending on where you’re driving, the time of day, and the number of passengers,” Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier said.
Will this prove the answer? Only time will tell.
PHOTO GALLERY
