Trump Administration Issues New Rules for Self-Driving Cars

The U.S. Department of Transportation has updated its voluntary guidelines for companies looking to test self-driving cars.

1 minute read

September 14, 2017, 8:00 AM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


Self-Driving Car

RioPatuca / Shutterstock

As more companies push forward on autonomous vehicle tests, the Trump administration updated its guidelines. "The new voluntary guidelines announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao update policies issued last fall by the Obama administration, which were also largely voluntary," Dee-Ann Durbin reports for the Associated Press.

The new guidelines, like those from the Obama administration, ask companies to consider safety threats like hacking and crash protection. "They no longer ask automakers to think about ethics or privacy issues or share information beyond crash data, as the previous guidelines did," Durbin reports.

"There are no fully self-driving vehicles for sale, but autonomous cars with backup drivers are being tested in numerous states, including California, Nevada and Pennsylvania," Durbin writes. 

Also see previous coverage on the lead-up to USDOT's guideline update.

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