Sure, Why Not: Regulator Says Self-Driving Cars Don't Need Brake Pedals or Steering Wheels to Be Safe

Gizmodo ^ | Mack DeGeurin

[BenLurkin]

New rules announced late Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reverse the agency’s previous requirements for cars to pass crash standards. The NHTSA said the updated regulations were meant to amend “wording that has or will become obsolete as applied to new design,” while still retaining comparable safety standards. Previous rules presumed vehicles would come equipped with a driver’s seat, steering wheel, and an accompanying steering column, however, the emergence of new classes of vehicles built specifically with automation in mind make these controls “logically unnecessary,” according to the NHTSA. The new standards could pave the way for more vehicle designs that emphasized entertainment and leisure opportunities in AVs.

NHTSA’s updated rules drew praise from the Transportation Secretary and failed presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg...

[norwaypinesavage]

Certainly. A ‘well-designed’ parking pawl could also be designed to seem to be “frictionless”. My point is that NHTSA is generally unwilling to even discuss things that reduce automaker’s cost, even if performance can also be improved in the process.

[GingisK]

A friction-less pawl wouldn’t do its job. Besides, redundancy of critical elements is good design.

[Billthedrill]

Kind of reminds me of the old conversations between NASA and the astronauts, who coined the phrase “Spam in a can.” If I don’t have controls at least give me an ejection seat.