
Draft California DMV Policy on Autonomous Vehicles - Daviey
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/211897ae-c58a-4f28-a2b7-03cbe213e51d/avexpressterms_93016.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
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Daviey
Interesting statement on the term "auto-pilot":

227.90. Statements About Autonomous Technology

(a) No vehicle shall be advertised as an autonomous vehicle unless it meets
all of the following requirements:

(1) The vehicle meets the definition of an autonomous vehicle specified in
Vehicle Code section 38750 and section 227.02(d) of this Article.

(2) The vehicle was manufactured by a manufacturer licensed pursuant to
Vehicle Code section 11701 also holding a valid autonomous vehicle
manufacturer’s permit issued pursuant to this Article at the time of the
vehicle’s manufacture.​

(b) Terms such as “self-driving”, “automated”, “auto-pilot”, or other
statements made that are likely to induce a reasonably prudent person to
believe a vehicle is autonomous, as defined, constitute an advertisement that
the vehicle is autonomous for the purposes of this section and Vehicle Code
section 11713.

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Animats
_" The manufacturer shall be responsible for the safe operation of the
vehicle, including compliance with all traffic laws, when the autonomous
vehicle is operating in autonomous mode within its approved operational design
domain."_

The California DMV has it right. Self-driving cars are allowed, but if a
manufacturer screws up, they have to pay all damages and may forfeit their $5
million bond. If they screw up badly, DMV can pull their license to sell or
test self-driving cars.

There's practical stuff in there, such as coordinating with the California
Highway Patrol with a plan for moving a stalled autonomous vehicle. (How to
turn it off. How to get it to release the brakes for towing. Can it be pushed?
Stuff like that.)

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bertil
This answers a key question about autonomous driving: Can I ask my car to go
above speed limit (because I casually do, and I want to project that on my
car, rather than admitting I am reckless)? Answer is a clear No.

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walshemj
And if you need to accelerate out of danger for 20/30 seconds?

I am thinking of taking avoiding action on a motorway.

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kalleboo
What makes that hypothetical interesting is that that kind of situation will
almost always be the other driver's liability. So an autonomous driving
manufacturer has no legal _liability_ reason to handle it. But when morality
comes into the picture it gets a lot more cloudy (what if it accelerates over
the speed limit to avoid an accident, if only to crash into another car and
make the accident worse?)

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walshemj
mm so it wont break the law even if it risks your life - not going to go down
well with drivers

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finid
Here's part of the relevant section that other news outlets are trumpeting:

 _§227.54. Manufacturer’s Permit to Test Autonomous Vehicles that do not
Require a Driver.

A manufacturer desiring to conduct testing of autonomous vehicles capable of
operating without the presence of a driver inside the vehicle on public roads
in California shall submit an application for a permit to conduct driverless
testing to the department on Autonomous Vehicle Tester (AVT) Program
Application for a Manufacturer’s Testing Permit- Driverless Vehicles, form OL
318 (New 9/2016), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Notwithstanding
the requirements of sections 227.04, 227.18, 227.20, 227.22, 227.32, 227.34
(a) through (d), and 227.40 (a)(2) and (a)(3), and 227.46 a manufacturer may
conduct testing of autonomous vehicles capable of operating without the
presence of a driver inside the vehicle on public roads in California if all
of the following requirements are met: _

And then follows a long list of requirements that __must __be met before a
manufacturer can test those vehicles without a driver.

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bertil
Based on those, how soon should we expect empty cars being summoned from the
parking lot?

~~~
finid
This is only during the testing phase.

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losteverything
Can individual towns / municipalities issue rules on top of state regulations?

I assume a private community with private roads (and private maintenance not
state funded ) can forbid vehicles from their roads (via a gate,guard or
regulation) as they do now.

