Question of the Day: Is It Too Soon for U.S. Regulators to Allow Driverless Cars Without Steering Wheels?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is mulling a decision that would no longer require autonomous vehicles, primarily robotaxis, to have steering wheels. 

“If you’re developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn’t make any sense to require manual controls,” said Jonathan Morrison, NHTSA administrator, in a CNBC interview on July 9.

The idea shouldn’t come as a complete shock as the agency eliminated the requirement for brake pedals in these vehicles in June. Pressure is being applied by companies like Tesla, Waymo, Zoox, and others that are currently testing vehicles that don’t have some form of driver controls available to passengers in the event of an emergency.

The idea behind the first driverless vehicles from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which later spun off to become Waymo, was a vehicle that allowed senior citizens who could no longer navigate roads or handle a car to remain independent with a car that would handle the driving for them.

Testing is important, but there have been plenty of reported problems with driverless vehicles, including a recent incident where a child was hit while attempting to cross the street to get to school. He suffered minor injuries. Ultimately driverless vehicles will be patrolling America’s roads with no driver controls in them, but is it too soon to fully eliminate the mandate for a steering wheel and a brake pedal? You tell us!

[Images: Zoox, Waymo]

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