The White House is Looking to Expedite and Properly Enforce Self-Driving Cars

It’s no secret that several of the big, Silicon Valley tech-firms have hopped on the self-driving car bandwagon. Apple and Google, for example, have been hard at work, with the hopes of bringing self-driving automobiles to market. However, if the Obama administration has its way, it will soon be bolstering efforts to get these autonomous autos on the road as quickly as possible.

While Apple and Google are known to be in the full-swing of developing and expanding upon their respective visions of a self-driving automobile, the White House is reported to share its own visions, and how it feels it can help bolster the efforts of these companies to get their cars to market sooner rather than later. A formal announcement, entailing the Obama administration’s plan, is to be revealed sometime this afternoon.

As originally reported by Reuters — who spoke directly with the current head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Mark Rosekind — U.S. Transportation Secretary, Anthony Foxx is expected to make a special appearance at the Detroit Auto Show sometime Thursday afternoon. Apparently he will be sharing information about Obama’s desire to expedite the introduction of self-driving cars to the American public.

Although prototypes from the likes of both Apple and Google have thus far reached the testing phase of development, taking to the open road in a series of trials to assess their efficacy, the Federal Government has yet to clear an official framework for effectively governing their presence.

Thus far, automakers are subject to a wishy-washy assortment of individual, state imposed regulations — such as, for example, California’s new law that requires a human being to be present behind the wheel at all times.

For its part, Google has indicated that it will be present this afternoon to take in Foxx’s announcement. And so it’s only reasonable to assume that several other top automakers will be present on stage, as well, as Foxx lays the groundwork on the Obama administration’s “nimble and flexible” approach to writing new rules that govern the self-driving car phenomenon that’s sure to be hitting the market within the not too distant future.

It seems as if the Obama administration has been sticking its hand into everything lately, huh? What do you think about this new tactic of governance? Will it help or hurt the industry, or should the rules be up to the states to write? Better yet, do you plan on buying one of these autonomous cars when they hit the market in a few years?

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