By 2020, the buzz is that 10 million "driverless" or "autonomous" vehicles will be on our nation's roads. Nevada, Arizona, and California are three states that have made "self-driving technology" a priority. Indeed, these states are frontrunners for completely autonomous vehicles.
Lawmakers across the country have been battling over whether driverless cars are (or can be) safe and reliable. The change in technology transforms the way the law is discussed, enacted, and implemented. Whereas current regulations primarily dictate the activities of drivers themselves, new technology demands that lawmakers regulate vehicles.
Regulation of autonomous vehicles will predominantly be governed on a state-by-state basis. While the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has promised to draft a list of recommended policies to states by July (an optimistic deadline at the least), the recommendations will not be binding on states. Each state will be required to tackle these regulations on its own.
To date, no state has banned driverless cars outright, but plenty are maneuvering older laws that were enacted when driverless cars were nothing more than a Sci-Fi pipedream. A New York law from the 1970's, for example, dictates that a driver must keep one hand on the wheel at all times. This law stands directly in the face of new technology.
Many other states are still debating the definition of the relevant terms—"autonomous vehicle" or "driverless car." Of these, several states have no laws on the books—either because they have elected not to take any action for now or because lawmakers have not been successful carrying a bill to vote.
A small number of other states, including Arizona, Nevada and California, are now letting autonomous vehicles on their roads in a testing environment (with a requirement that a person to be behind the wheel to intervene as necessary).
In Nevada, the legislature and the Department of Motor Vehicles have enacted legislation and regulations to enable testing of driverless cars that allow manufacturers, software developers, and other interested parties to apply for an "Autonomous Vehicle Business License."
California also issues "Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permits," current holders of which include big names in the auto world and tech world like Tesla, Nissan, Ford, Google, and Mercedes Benz. California is currently developing regulations for "post-testing" deployment of driverless vehicles for public operation and conducted a series of workshops in January and February 2016.
In Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey signed an Executive Order in August 2015 directing various Arizona agencies to "undertake any necessary steps to support the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles on public roads within Arizona." The Governor ordered the enabling of pilot programs and established a Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee to advise as to "how best to advance the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles." Members of the Oversight Committee were announced in March 2016, and include individuals from various state agencies, and two members employed by the University of Arizona.
Alphabet Inc. (which owns tech giant Google, Inc.) launched a program in Arizona to test self-driving cars. Google intends to disperse "vehicle safety specialists" to "navigate" autonomous Lexus vehicles between 30-40 hours a week (i.e., sit behind the wheel while the car drives itself) and then to gather data and report feedback to engineers.
The obvious takeaway is that autonomous cars are coming very soon to a city and neighborhood near you. States are competing for a seat at the testing table and working diligently to adapt their laws to new technology. New technology will ultimately change the way we think of the law and how we apply it in varying ways, particularly in a regulatory and litigation atmosphere. Personal injury litigation, products liability litigation, and patent litigation are some of the more obvious arenas that will be challenged by this new and exciting trend that is on our doorsteps. The full service nature of Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie and its Regulatory and Government Affairs practice group is prepared to handle these regulatory-based litigation disputes.
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