In the end of the year E. Musk is willing that Tesla would drive from Los Angeles to New York without the help of a human. Other giant companies’ cars with autonomous technologies such as Volvo, Ford or GM will hit the highway in 2021. However, governments with their power to establish new laws and ability to set guidelines towards city development cannot catch the engineer with its notebook and strong black coffee pumping new autonomous technologies into cars, The schedules of intelligent cars adoption heavily depend on regulatory developments. In the real world, technological frameworks for autonomous cars is not enough. Self-driving technology concerns with serious liability issues when machines operate themselves in a potentially dangerous environment. Undoubtedly, automotive companies cannot start mass production of a true self-driving car if there is nowhere it can be legally driven, or simply cannot pass safety requirements.
So where do countries stand in the race of autonomous cars? The pioneers of autonomous cars regulation/legislation In the meantime, the U.S. is the biggest robocars testing playground. Nevada, California, Michigan, Florida, and Washington, D.C. have adopted legal rules for AV. Starting from 2012 States spent plenty of time discussing with car makers how should autonomous cars legislation look like. Projected market size of self-driving cars is 32 billion euros. So it is obvious that governments are racing for a bigger slice of pie. For example, California is making a big step further in AV technology allowing driverless cars to operate as taxis in the public roads. In this case, using Uber in Los Angeles gives you prospect to have a ride with a robocar without any unwanted chit chats. Meanwhile this year, Nevada announced the start of a three-phase project to get a real live autonomous bus on the road by as early as 2019. Per contra, there is always that one big issue. As government regulators do not thoroughly understand the technology and where it could lead, all the hard work that has been done might be doomed. The main headache is that the U.S. lacks a critical uniform national framework to advance these technologies. Based on information from National Conference of State Legislatures, eighteen U.S. states have passed autonomous-vehicle legislations and more than 30 state houses have introduced self-driving car bills in 2017. One relevant example takes us back to 2015 when Audi prototype which included autonomous technologies crossed from California into Nevada and the engineers had to pull over at the border and screw on the special license plate the latter requires. Every company wants unified rules in this game because the idea of making 50 variations of a car to match 50 sets of laws promises to be a nightmare. Knowing the guidelines from the early stages is essential for AV makers. You can feel out of luck if you develop a system using radar and cameras, then, a few years later, the government decides you need to include LIDaR, basically eliminating you from the game. Last month, the U.S. Congress published the main principles of the unified autonomous cars legislation. It is believed that the new legislation would allow AV development on the same time ensuring everyone will be safe. Proposed legislation exempts 100 000 robocars from federal standards like steering wheels and foot-activated brakes. This exemption should be used as a stopgap before National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ensures that autonomous driving is safe and makes amendments. Even though AV specialists criticize decision to make this stopgap, it is believed that it could make a visible progression in the automotive industry. Slow but steady If you hear somebody talking about cars, what country would be the first to pop up to your head? Probably Germany. Country is home to some of the world's largest car companies, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, all of which are investing heavily in technologies. For example, Mercedes is co-working with Nvidia, Elektrobit, BMW paired with Intel and Mobileye. Until now all investments and autonomous cars testing took place in the U.S. so legislators in Germany had a hard task to change the way this market moves. Back in May, they approved a law allowing companies to test their AV on its roads. Surely, with certain conditions included, for instance, drivers must be sitting behind the wheel all the time. They can take their eyes off the road, snap some stories with their smartphones or browse the Instagram but they need to be able to take over if the system tells them to do so. In addition, Germany ascertained that AVs are just like planes and need to have the black boxes. The boxes are going to record all the information of the journey and determine who is to be blamed in case of accidents: if it's a human in charge, then the government will hold the driver responsible. The government also pushed forward the crossborder cooperation with France. Both countries introduced route from Merzig in Germany to Metz in France which is aimed completely for AV testing. The trail will allow testing of 5G wireless communications between vehicles and infrastructure, automated maneuvers such as overtaking and braking, emergency warning and call systems. It is believed that this testing place will set worldwide standards for autonomous technology testing. Not that far ago Germany was slacking in AI development game against Tesla. However, introducing the new Audi A8 puts them right on top. Audi is saying that drivers can take their hands off the steering wheel permanently while the traffic jam pilot is engaged in the highway. And this not the end: the automaker says it will be adopting a step-by-step approach to the introduction of the traffic jam pilot in production models. To sum up, the current situation of Germany’s maneuvers around AV reminds us of Usain Bolt: slower in the start comparing with other competitors but when it keeps rolling it cannot be stopped. Ireland and the UK. How far have they advanced in the AV legislation? In terms of the legislation, Ireland and the UK have upper hand against continental Europe. The former is not even a contracting party of the Convention, while the latter has signed it but not ratified, meaning that it is not mandatory to follow the rules of the Convention. Having position like this countries could make serious competition to the U.S., while contracting parties of the Vienna Convention is waiting for new amendments to legalize autonomous vehicles on public roads. Last year, E. Musk tweeted that Tesla is coming to Ireland. Meaning that one of the most innovative countries of Europe is attracting attention for automotive investments. Last month, Ireland’s Prime Minister L. Varadkar announced that he is seeking to raise investments for infrastructure (essential part for AV to work). However, last week, the Minister of Transport Sh.Ross said that at present he is not aware of any proposals to test driverless cars on Irish roads. No wonder why. Having a situation mentioned before, Ireland is still waiting for decisions from other EU states in order to ensure safety. A banal excuse, isn't it? Starting from 2009, AVs have driven millions of kilometers to prove they are safer than ordinary cars. Looking to the future new legislation for AVs could also serve for a drink-driving bill which would impose a mandatory three-month driving ban on anyone found to have 51-80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in their system. And there wouldn't be any problems for people living in rural regions as they could use their autonomous vehicles that can safely transport them home. The inabilities to make decisions, at least at testing such vehicles, pulls Ireland into the cold winter of robocars battle. In this case, harvesting from 32 billion euros worth money tree could be just a daydream for Ireland. On the contrary, the UK is determined to become a world leader in autonomous technologies. However, competition in this sector is growing rapidly, so being just an observer is not enough. Let the work speak for itself. After a few years of work, this February, the UK introduced the Vehicle Technology and the Aviation Bill. This Legal act lists a number of proposals regarding how autonomous vehicles should be insured and suggests new rules requiring petrol stations and businesses to install more charging points for electric and hydrogen-powered cars. Liability issues that always attracts lots of arguments from different sides of barricades could give a great headache. Hence, in order to ensure a quick and easy access to compensations for the victims involved in a collision with an AV the UK government paid lots of attention to insurance and liability issues. The proposed Bill claims insurers would act as a middleman for manufacturers so that anyone injured by an autonomous car can claim against the owner's insurance and not have to file a private liability claim against the car maker. The Bill also lays out that modification of the vehicles software or a fail of installing major updates will cause owners liability for any damages autonomous vehicle made in the accident. The determination to be a leader is not just a bold slogan. The cooperation among scientists, engineers and business leads to the intensive autonomous technologies testing in the UK. A perfect example is the GATEway project. Lead by TRL (The future of transport organisation), supported by the government, the UK universities, start-ups like Oxbotica and business leaders like O2 or Shell, the project investigates the public acceptance of autonomous vehicles and automated urban delivery services. The Ultra POD shuttle working in Heathrow's Terminal 5 have already carried 1.5 million passengers and completed 3 million kilometres of a fully automated operation. Last month, they have also completed the first part of Cargo POD trials in public roads. The focus of the study was both on the commercial opportunities of self-driving technology and on how it functions alongside people in a residential environment. Initiatives and numbers tells all by themselves. The UK is a top ranked player in this game right now. Rising stars from the Baltics According to the Digital Evolution Index, smaller countries with strong institutions can create high value as early adopters and create a demonstration effect for the world by assembling the right ecosystem. This statement is also valid for AV area, as aforementioned countries can quickly enact binding laws across their entire territory, contrary to the U.S.. Lithuania and Estonia are using this advantage as they have established laws for autonomous vehicles and their testing. Applying various marketing techniques, countries are trying to attract attention from the investors. For example, Lithuania has builded the Gigafactory 2 for Elon Musk. Well, not in the real world. 41 gamers spent two days building and livestreaming a mockup of the Tesla’s Gigafactory inside Minecraft, a “sandbox” video game which lets players build an almost infinite variety of structures inside a virtual world. Surely, in order to attract big automotive companies to test their toys in Lithuania, building objects in Minecraft is not enough. This summer, the government of Lithuania enacted some important changes to the Road Traffic Safety Law that allows AV on public roads. A vehicle must have a driver who is going to be responsible for the vehicle and takes control of it if necessary. Furthermore, AVs should have some kind of chips installed in them for police officers to be able to tell if a car is driven by autonomous or driver mode. The expert group is continuing its work on the responsibilities, insurance, privacy, ethics and other related AV topics. It’s just a beginning of a long-term process. Plenty of Lithuanians are hyped of having autonomous systems here. Right now it is up to the society, group of lawyers, businesses, scientists and government whether Lithuania could rise up as a bright star in this sector. Estonians though chose a conservative way. After the new amendments of the Vienna Road Traffic Convention came into force, Estonians reacted first amongst Baltic States and established new Road Traffic laws that allow testing of self-driving cars classified as level 2 and 3. Estonia did not wanted to take risks. The technical department head of the Road Administration, J. Vahtra, said: “The situation is new and we have to be sure that the mechanical as well as the software aspects of these cars comply with all the requirements. Any testing activities are carried out under the supervision of the Road Administration, and they have to be safe". Same as Lithuanians, Estonians are in a search of vanquishing civil liability and behaviouralism issues. After establishing the new laws, this Baltic country started their marketing campaign. The government sent official invitations to the management boards of Daimler, Tesla, Uber, Volvo, and Waymo (formerly Google car). They also set self-driving minibuses to roam in Tallinn streets that are completely free of charge. Who will cross the finish line first? Since we have already passed the period of convincing governments about the advantages that AVs bring to the world, next step is to make those vehicles available on public roads. Governments plays an important role as they must maintain a dialogue with businesses, legal specialists and scientists in order to update the necessary updates to the Road Traffic laws. It is a hard work but countries that invest their money and time to the AV technologies and legislation would gain big benefits that lead to massive investments. It is still unclear which country will be the dominus of the AV and finally let us enjoy all the benefits of the autonomous driving. All we know is that the first to host fleets of autonomous cars might get a big slice of the pie of the industry with its potential value of 32 billion euros.
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