Google “disappointed” by long-awaited Californian self-driving car rules

Yesterday, California issued preliminary rules regarding letting the public take self-driving cars on roads; and the rules failed to impress Google. The draft rules, released by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, have placed strict limits on the emerging technology in the hopes of addressing the many difficult issues surrounding it, such as licensing, registration, certification, safety—even cyber security and privacy. The rules prohibit the use of fully autonomous driverless cars that don’t have a steering wheel or a brake pedal, like the prototype that Google has developed. A licensed operator must be present inside the vehicle and be capable of taking control at all times if the technology fails or there is another emergency. Google responded: “We’re gravely disappointed that California is already writing a ceiling on the potential for fully self-driving cars to help all of us who live here…”

Google is not happy with the preliminary rules California issued Wednesday to regulate the production and sales of self-driving vehicles.

A first draft of the rules place strict limits on the new technology, Fortune reports. The rules would require a licensed driver to be present—and capable of taking control—in the vehicle while driving, as well as prohibit the use of driverless cars without a steering wheel or user-controllable brakes. California also banned the sale of self-driving cars, limiting manufacturers to leasing the vehicles.

The news upset the search giant, which has made significant investments in self-driving technology.

“We’re gravely disappointed that California is already writing a ceiling on the potential for fully self-driving cars to help all of us who live here,” Google said in a statement released Wednesday.

Google has been testing a fleet of autonomous vehicles in hope of a 2020 commercial release, according to Fortune.

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