Where should the steering wheel be in a car that is driven by a computer? Google asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to clarify this and other issues recently, and the results might surprise you.

In November, 2015, Google sent the NHTSA a request for interpretation of several safety regulations. In its proposed design, Google said that its self-driving vehicle has no need for a human driver, and therefore it sought exceptions to regulations on the placement of steering wheels, accelerators, and brake pedals. These features, Google claimed, were unnecessary because the cars drive themselves.

In January, the US Department of Transport first suggested it may be flexible, willing to waive some regulations for driverless vehicles. Anthony Foxx, the transport chief, said "in 2016, we are going to do everything we can to promote safe, smart, and sustainable vehicles. We are bullish on automated vehicles."

The NHTSA made good on that promise in February, 2016, when it responded to Google's request for interpretation of regulations. It said:

“NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants. . . . We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years.”

The decision makes good sense to Chris Urmsom, technical director of the Google self-driving car project. In an interview with NPR, he raised two key reasons why automated cars should truly be driverless:

“It really starts with safety. In America, there's 33,000 people that are killed on the road every year, and to put that in perspective, that's equivalent of a 737 falling out of the sky five days a week. ... There is just a tremendous opportunity there to save lives — 94 percent of those accidents are due to human error, and the good news is we can build software and hardware that can see the road and pay attention all the time and react more quickly and keep people safe on the road. The other big aspect is accessibility. When you think about the baby boomer generation, they're starting to get to a point where they feel uncomfortable driving or their family feels uncomfortable about them driving. Making sure they have access to transportation, to continue to do all the things they do today — to go and visit their grandchildren or just to go to a coffee shop — we think that is an incredibly important use for this type of technology.”

Driverless cars will provide mobility and convenience to future motorists. With the NHTSA's support, that future may come sooner than we think.

Dani K. Liblang is a personal injury attorney at The Liblang Law Firm, PC, in Birmingham, Michigan. She represents the victims of defective vehicles and auto accidents. Contact The Liblang Law Firm, PC, to schedule a free consultation.

Image Source: Michael Shick via Wikimedia Commons