With his sights set on maintaining Michigan’s prominent role in a global auto industry awash in new technology and business models, Gov. Rick Snyder has signed four bills into law aimed at clearing the path for the testing and deployment of self-driving vehicles on state roadways.
Among states that have laws on the books related to autonomous vehicles, Michigan now has perhaps the most permissive in the country. Manufacturers will be allowed to operate cars on public roads without traditional controls such as steering wheels and to sell those cars to customers once the technology has been tested and certified.
Both traditional manufacturers and newcomers to the transportation industry could put fleets of self-driving taxis on Michigan’s roads as part of on-demand mobility services like Uber and Lyft. An early version of the legislation restricted these deployments to motor-vehicle distributors, but revisions were made after Google expressed concerns.
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“The bills that passed are still a mess, and Michigan
has managed to create legal confusion rather than
legal certainty.” — Bryant Walker Smith, University of South Carolina
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A number of companies are developing automated ride-hailing services. GM, which invested $500 million in Lyft earlier this year, is expected to launch a pilot project employing autonomous Chevrolet Bolts in 2017. State officials say the regulatory framework now allows such a program in Michigan.
“This isn’t just about throwing things out there,” Snyder said in October, speaking about the then pending legislation, Senate bills 995, 996, 997, and 998. “There’s huge amounts of testing and background experiences to build on, and as this progresses, let’s not have the government be the barrier. Let’s make sure we’re progressing in a safe fashion that makes sense.”
Laws May Sow Legal Confusion
Sense may be in the eye of the beholder. Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina who specializes in autonomous-vehicle and technology law, cautions that the new laws may contain unintended complications.
“The bills that passed are still a mess, and Michigan has managed to create legal confusion rather than legal certainty,” he said. One of the four, he said later, “is so convoluted, I can’t make sense out of it. It’s very confusing why a state that wants to promote itself as a thoughtful partner would create a mess.
“There are so many open questions that could create some strange obstacles for companies who want to deploy.”
Specifically, he said that vague language in the bills could be interpreted to mean automated driving is only lawful in the context of research-and-development projects and for on-demand robot taxis. Alternatively, the laws could be interpreted with the opposite intent, that autonomous driving is generally lawful and these self-driving-taxi networks are subject to more restrictive requirements.
Further, he says there’s ambiguity between the ways the laws define “operator” and “driver,” and they apply the potential meanings differently in different circumstances, such as whether the vehicles are on the road as part of an automated network. Drivers and operators could conceivably include the engineers who start autonomous vehicles, vehicle occupants, the companies that run on-demand services, and self-driving systems. Smith says some companies might be reluctant to test vehicles given the uncertainty.
“Let’s say I put a vehicle out on the road that is driverless, and then I’m ticketed. What happens?” Smith said. “I point to a line in the bill that says automated driving is permitted on roads in Michigan, and someone else points to the provision that says these vehicles are permitted in the context of shuttle projects, and a court will need to resolve that.”
Industry Supports New Laws
So far, auto-industry response to the four laws has been agreeable. The package replaces previous legislation that largely prohibited public-road deployment. In addition to reshaping the testing rules, the new laws greenlight the testing and deployment of truck platoons, shield manufacturers from liability in some cases, and allow for vehicles testing at the American Center for Mobility—an autonomous- and connected-car validation facility being built near Detroit—to use public roads.
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“Michigan now leads the nation in the rollout of commercial-truck platooning.” – Josh Switkes, Peloton Technology
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“Michigan now leads the nation in the rollout of commercial-truck platooning,” said Josh Switkes, CEO of Mountain View, California-based Peloton Technology, a developer of connected- and automated-vehicle systems that is exploring platooning as a way to improve safety and reduce commercial fuel costs.
Gary Shapiro, CEO and president of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), notes the financial benefit the laws will provide for the state. “The race to put self-driving cars on the road is fueled by the desire to embrace innovative transportation solutions, and, in the case of Michigan, with great benefit to the state economy thanks to revenue from expanded testing facilities.”
The CTA runs the annual CES technology showcase in Las Vegas, where autonomous-vehicle technology has helped turn the show into a major automotive event in recent years.
States Chase Autonomous Tech
Five states, including Michigan, currently have laws that govern how autonomous operations can be conducted on state roadways, according to the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, which tracks laws related to autonomous vehicles state by state. That group includes California and Nevada; both compete with Michigan for jobs associated with advanced transportation technology.
Regulations prompted by state law in California require companies testing self-driving vehicles in the state to retain controls including steering wheels, a sticking point for some developers that intend to deploy fully driverless cars that don’t have such features.
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“As this progresses, let’s not have the government be the barrier. Let’s make sure we’re progressing in a safe fashion that makes sense.” – Gov. Rick Snyder
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There’s an argument to be made that taking no legislative action is the most efficient approach to wooing these businesses.
The majority of states do not have relevant laws, but lacking them does not necessarily present a barrier. Uber launched a ride-hailing pilot project to test autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania has no law that explicitly permits or restricts autonomous driving. In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker issued an executive order that established a working group, which then set policies for autonomous vehicles. Shortly thereafter, self-driving taxi purveyor nuTonomy agreed to terms of self-driving testing with the city of Boston.
In September, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled a federal automated vehicle policy which included an entire section of model state policies for those intent on passing legislation about self-driving vehicles. Michigan’s new laws don’t necessarily follow this federal guidance, but that may not be a bad thing.
“It’s okay to have a variety of approaches at this point,” Smith said. “States should be concerned about getting themselves into a hole they can’t dig themselves out of. Michigan’s last law created a perception they were markedly behind because they expressly prohibited it. But we haven’t figured out the best solution yet.”
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