United States vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, an important step toward winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Google of its decision in a previously unreported Feb. 4 letter to the company posted on the agency’s website this week.
Google’s self-driving car unit on Nov. 12 submitted a proposed design for a self-driving car that has “no need for a human driver,” the letter said.
If the car’s artificial intelligence is considered the driver for legal purposes, then it clears the way for automakers to design vehicle systems that communicate directly with the vehicle’s artificial pilot.