Right now, self-driving tech is all the rage in the automotive industry, but current legislation is found lacking when it comes to regulating them.
This was proven beyond doubt last month in California, when Uber rolled out a test fleet of autonomous Volvo XC90s in San Francisco and became embroidered in a fight with the Department of Motor Vehicles, which ended with the company first defying the DMV and eventually obeying, halting its tests and moving the cars to Arizona.
As reported by SFGate, a new bill that was presented last Thursday seeks to address that issue by imposing steep fines on anyone who will attempt to deploy a self-driving vehicle without first getting an autonomous testing license from the DMV.
If it gets into law, the DMV will have the authority to impose a fine of up to $25,000 per vehicle per day of its illegal operation and impound the car(s). Moreover, offenders will have to wait two years before applying for an autonomous testing license.
“We love that the technology is being developed here in the Bay Area and California, but we want to make sure that the vehicles on the road are safe for everybody”, said Assemblyman Phil Ting, the author of the bill.
Ting added that, as in the Uber case, “the DMV already has that authority (to revoke licenses), but the bill would make it even more clear by telling DMV to do that, instead of having to wait for its own administrative process”.
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