Google Kicks Its Car Fight Upstairs

In the U.S., the federal government oversees car safety, while states handle the drivers. That worked fine until the cars started becoming the drivers. The bellwether legal framework for fully self-driving cars is in the hands of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The department’s draft rules, released in December, would force autonomous cars to look a lot more like today’s models than the podlike designs Google and others are testing. The state wants to keep the steering wheel, brake pedals, and a licensed driver, among other things.

To head off California, Google has shifted its lobbying to the federal stage, asking Congress to put regulatory authority firmly in the hands of the U.S. Department of Transportation. “Congressional action is needed,” Chris Urmson, director of Google’s self-driving car project, told the Senate Commerce Committee on March 15. “If every state is left to go its own way, it would be extremely impractical to operate an autonomous vehicle across state boundaries.”