Technology these days is pretty awesome, for one we have all of the information we could ever want just sitting in our pockets with smartphones. We can also play Pokemon like real trainers with Pokemon Go. In the auto world the new technological advancement being tested is self-driving cars. Companies like Tesla and Google are creating, testing and in Tesla’s case selling self-driving cars.
I’m not sure how I feel about this myself, I don’t think I would like not being in control of my vehicle. Just the thought of everyone around me in traffic relying on technology to drive and be safe makes me nervous. Computers won’t be able to for see or react to every situation that occurs on the road and Tesla has learned that the hard way.
A crash occurred on May 7th that killed the driver, while the car was in the auto pilot mode. Because of the crash the United States Government is looking into regulations on these new self-driving cars. The regulations they are looking into implementing is requiring approval the automated driving technologies before they reach the road.
The existing authority is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and they cannot block the automated car technologies before they are introduced. They can only act on and limit the potential safety problems after an accident or other mishap occurs.
Normally I wouldn’t like more government regulation but I feel that this is a good reason for them to get involved. When it comes to the safety of the people and new technologies like these I think the government must step in. It is their duty to keep the people safe and with this technology. New technology is great and all but it has its bugs and it can be dangerous. So it only makes sense to have some government regulation to keep the people safe.
