Much controversy is coming and it is time of change in laws on the subject of "self-driving." We have been hearing and reading about numerous accidents produced by autonomous cars from leading Silicon Valley companies, such as the Google, for example, that it collided with a bus last March in California, without causing serious problems. Worst luck ran the driver of the Tesla injured in May who died when colliding with a trailer when his Model S was on "automatic pilot" activated. A system failure caused the fatal accident while his driver was watching a movie.
These types of accidents are beginning to have quite a legal relevance in the area. So much so that the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently collecting information on these and other related traffic accidents. In the case of Google, no formal investigation has been opened. In case of TeslaOn the contrary, if it has begun to be studied after what happened on May 7 in Florida.
Google and Tesla are facing potential lawsuits following the accidents caused by their self-driving cars.
According to Reuters, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also investigating whether Tesla violated securities laws by not informing your investors about the fatal accident at the time of the event, so that it would not have consequences in your next purchase / sale of shares on the NASDAQ, the American stock market.
Executives and investors hope that this type of accident will stimulate investment in autonomous driving systems to improve this booming technology. In fact, Goldman Sachs forecasts that this market will grow from $ 3 billion in 2015, to $ 96 billion in 2025, and $ 290 billion ten years later.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned regulatory companies are in the queue when it comes to making written standards for vehicles of this type. These rules were meant to go into effect on July 14, but US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced last month that we won't be able to get them fully operational until the end of this summer.
It is expected that soon there will be a solid jurisdiction on this issue and, quite possibly, both companies will have to appear before these regulatory administrations to clarify everything that happened.
Apple, for its part, has already begun discussions with those regulatory bodies to address autonomous car laws, within state reports. Another piece of information that the Apple Car project, which according to many media, is in a very advanced stage.
