A Reality Check for Driverless Cars

For autonomous vehicles to roam the freeway, infrastructure and the law will need to accelerate and catch up with innovation, experts say.

1 minute read

June 21, 2011, 9:00 AM PDT

By Jeff Jamawat

The fact of the matter is people know that technology of the kind exists, which begs the question: What's the holdup?

The problem, Eric Jaffe points out, is antiquated traffic laws.

"Right now autonomous vehicles are illegal in every state. Before they can gain access to the road we must rewrite just about all our current driving codes, which take for granted that a person is behind the wheel," he says.

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University weighs in, "[T]ransportation is one area where progress has been slow for decades." He continues, "That debate on this issue is so quiet shows the urgency of doing something now."

FULL STORY: What’s Stopping Driverless Cars? (Hint: Not Technology)

Monday, June 20, 2011 in The Infrastructurist

Infrastructure Technology Transportation United States Transportation Planning Automobiles View More

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