GM petition for driverless car to NHTSA enters public comment phase

NHTSA provided summaries of GM and Nuro petitions for public review. In January 2018, GM submitted its petition to NHTSA, in which it undertook to deploy a fleet of driverless taxis comprised of Chevrolet Bolt EV cars, known as Cruise AV. GM at the time had announced that it would deploy its autonomous fleet this year.

"Safety is the cornerstone of our approach to designing, developing and testing our zero-emission autonomous vehicles," GM said in a statement. "We believe that automated technology offers considerable potential to reduce the human error committed, the main cause of over 90% of road accidents.

"GM's zero-emission autonomous vehicle (ZEAV) represents significant advances in safety, zero-emission vehicles and mobility and meets the safety objectives of all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). "

US Senator Gary Peters, of D-Bloomfield Township, said in a statement: "The announcement made today by NHTSA reaffirms that self-driving technologies are not an innovation of the future: they are already on our roads and carrying passengers.

"Faced with the rapid evolution of autonomous driving technology, the federal government needs to put in place a framework to ensure that these vehicles operate safely without stopping innovation." Today is a challenging step in realizing the promise that autonomous cars are driving mobility and saving lives. "

GM's response time, which has been waiting for 14 months, a response from the government regulator, is proof that obtaining the necessary federal approval is not a small step, nor a guarantee. The language of federal safety regulation concerns drivers and vehicles designed to be driver-driven – as opposed to artificial intelligence.

GM and Nuro are trying to prove to the federal government that they can provide the same level of security required by law, without any human operator.

If GM does not get federal approval of its autonomous vehicles without a steering wheel, pedals or mirrors at the moment when it is ready to deploy its fleet of robotic robots, CEO Mary Barra said that the company could already Launch the service with the cruise AVs of the current generation on the road in San Francisco.

Barra and other leaders of the automaker and its autonomous driving unit, GM Cruise LLC, have said the rollout of the driverless taxi service will be "security-controlled."