There are several factors that industry leaders, manufacturers, regulators, and consumers all have spinning through their heads with regards to the reality and legitimacy of self-automated vehicles (SAV). The main concerns are these:

• Will SAVs be safe?
• Will SAVs be affordable?
• Will SAVs be regulated well enough?

Well, to be sure the federal government has taken responsibility for its part in making sure policies and regulations get put into place early on, so that all the manufactures, designers, etc. are all on the same playing field.

"We think this is a really critical step towards imposing and working towards the level of safety needed in this arena," said Anthony Foxx, U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

How Will Federal Regulations Shape the SAV Industry?

Will Self-Driving Cars Really Be Safer? | Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyer

The new SAV regulation guidelines have already gone into effect and they should help shape the way car manufacturer’s develop and design these new self-driving cars. Here’s a look at what some of the new US federal government policy guidelines look like:

• All major car manufactures have been advised of a federally mandated 15-point safety assessment their vehicles must adhere to before being sold and hitting the streets.
• State guidelines policy: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) calls for rigorous testing and SAV operations guidelines that states could use to set statewide policy.
• The NHTSA also has many current regulatory tools at its disposal that it can use to interpret and enforce rules and regulations for traffic safety.
• Other options and tools the NHTSA could develop could arise from open town hall meetings and industry roundtable discussions.

How Human Error Can Still Be a Factor?

The one factor that SAV software programs don’t take into account is what is known as the “ripple-effect,” where multiple scenarios occur at once and snowball to the point that a software program doesn’t have the reasoning ability to handle the situation. Another concern researchers have brought up is that each manufacturer’s SAV software is going to operate a little differently from each other, and if a software glitch exists it is going to occur in all of that manufacturer’s cars.

"Whether you trust it depends on how it's programmed," said André Platzer, an associate professor at CMU's School of Computer Science. "If one person makes one mistake in one circumstance, that doesn't mean all other people will make the same mistake in those same circumstances. You don't want to a fatal mistake one human can make [replaced] with 50,000 mistakes a computer can make."²

Contact a Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyer at Shakeshaft-Gorman Law Firm, LLP

Retaining an attorney will still be practical even if we transition to a society dominated by SAVs, because in many cases manual operation is still going to be necessary should the SAV program or vehicle have a malfunction. In the event of any type of car accident, the Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyer at Shakeshaft-Gorman Law Firm, LLP is ready to advocate your rights, and help you recover financially so that you can go on resuming a normal life again.

You can set up a free, no-cost initial consultation with the Colorado Springs car accident lawyer with Shakeshaft-Gorman Law Firm, LLP by calling (719) 635-5886 or (800) 383-5886. You can also contact him via email him using form on this page.

We are conveniently located in Colorado Springs, but we also represent people throughout the rest of the state as well.

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¹“New guidelines for self-driving cars” published in CNBC, September 2016.

²“Here’s Why Self-Driving Cars May Never Really Be Self-Driving" published in Computerworld, February 2017.