By Joann Muller | Axios
States are scrambling to figure out how to govern vehicles in an age of automated driving, when cars and drivers will have different levels of control over driving.
Why it matters: Autonomous vehicles will create new traffic risks, especially during the long transition period when there will be both AVs and driver-operated vehicles on the road.
Related: Arizona in a patchwork of AV regulations
The federal government has signaled that states should continue to be responsible for setting rules of the road, even when machines are doing the driving.
That comes with a host of thorny issues for states — from how to license automated drivers to how to rewrite outdated traffic laws.
“Basically it’s been left to the free market — the states and the AV developers — to figure all this out.”
— Jim Hedlund, consultant to the Governors Highway Safety Association
What’s happening: Organizations like the Governors Highway Safety Association and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators are working with AV developers and others to help states tackle these issues.
