With auto manufacturers working toward fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles, only some states have started legislating the driverless future.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will tell you that no self-driving cars exist (we’ve said as much ourselves), yet several vehicles on the road today offer hands-free driving for stretches, including the General Motors models equipped with its evolving Super Cruise technology. But the reality is that no system, not Super Cruise, Tesla’s Autopilot, or any other system offered by any other automaker for that matter, can drive you on every road in the United States. Far from it.
That day is coming; it’s just a question of when. Although it might take decades, the end game of advanced autonomous driver assist systems is to take stressed, distracted, intoxicated, and otherwise exhausted drivers out of the equation entirely in an effort to make our roads dramatically safer, enable mobility for all, and optimize the movement of goods and services. With that inevitability in mind, several states have begun enacting laws related to autonomous vehicles. We take a look at which states have acted, which haven’t, and who are still at the studying, planning, and testing stages of making laws and rules around self-driving vehicles.
What States Allow Autonomous Vehicles, Which Don’t, and What States Require Someone Behind the Wheel?
Right now, there are 21 states that have laws allowing for the deployment of autonomous vehicles, six that have laws only related to semi trucks, and 13 states plus Washington D.C. that are in the process of researching laws on these types of vehicles. This means there are only 10 states that don’t have any laws on the books or any formally announced research pertaining to autonomous vehicles as of now.
Of those 27 states with autonomous vehicle laws and related rules on the books, 12 have stipulations on the level of autonomy of the vehicle (as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE) and in many of those states, a licensed driver is required to be behind the wheel watching over the autonomy tech. There are multiple other interpretations of how those vehicles should be operated depending on the state, among them:
InMichigan, testing of any "automated motor vehicle" and deployment of an "on-demand automated" vehicle network is allowed. The state doesn’t require someone to be behind the wheel but does require that person to be licensed to drive when they are.
Pennsylvaniahas voluntary guidance on the testing of fully autonomous vehicles and also allows the use of autonomous "work zone vehicles." However, in those "highly automated vehicles," as Pennsylvania calls them, a "licensed human driver" must be behind the wheel, while the "work zone vehicles" do not require a human to be inside.
Oklahoma‘s new rules allow for the operation of autonomous vehicles, but as of this writing, there are no rules or laws addressing if someone needs to be behind the wheel or if that person needs to be licensed.
Seven states—Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia—do not require a driver behind the wheel or for the driver to be licensed if they are, providing that vehicle is deemed to be SAE Level 4 or 5 capable.
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