Best Self-Driving Tech Going Nowhere as Rules Stall Under Trump

Bloomberg discusses V2V regulations on self-driving cars with Marc Scribner.

The technology that gives cars superpowers to see around corners and through walls won’t be on the first self-driving rides hitting the road in the next few years.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems, known as V2V, are regarded as essential for fully automated travel, which could dramatically reduce traffic fatalities from around 40,000 in the U.S. last year. The tech enables cars to send signals back and forth to one another, improving their ability to foresee potential collisions and avert them.

Despite its promise, the tech is going nowhere fast. A push by regulators during the Obama administration to speed V2V to market has stalled under the Trump administration. Without rules requiring it, automakers including Ford Motor Co. are holding off on deploying $350-per-vehicle systems that aren’t effective unless most cars have it.

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Free-market groups and other carmakers, including Tesla, have criticized a mandate in part because it could force a particular V2V tech on the industry while ignoring newer alternatives.

The chasm could give the Trump administration cover to abandon the rule, as it has other Obama-era initiatives, according to Marc Scribner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank in Washington.
“The only action I can see would be a formal withdrawal of the rule,” Scribner said.

Read the full article at Bloomberg.