In a vote this week, legislators of the Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection advanced a bill that would shake up the issues surrounding self-driving vehicles.
Proponents have often looked to self-driving vehicles for the potential life-saving aspects they embody, and as such efforts eke closer to reality, legislators are looking to lock in the principles which will guide them.
“Why is all of this important?” Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) said. “One word: Safety. We don’t have to accept a world where millions of accidents and thousands of fatalities on the roadway are a necessary evil of driving. In a nation of over 320 million, each year approximately 6 million Americans are involved in vehicular accidents, resulting in nearly 2 million injuries.”
In 2015 alone, statistics have pointed to more than 35,000 deaths related to traffic incidents on U.S. roadways. Vehicular accidents represent a major issue in day to day life. While safety is the cornerstone of automotive legislation debates, other issues the legislation attempts to address are innovation, mobility, as well as research and development.