US Department of Motor Vehicles exercises caution on publishing self-driving rules
California could soon set the standard for definitive road rules for autonomous vehicles when it publishes first-in-the-world consumer rules for self-driving cars. Those regulations are already a year behind schedule, which is frustrating to companies such as Tesla and Google who already have autonomous vehicles on the road. That puts pressure on California to finish its long-awaited draft rules, which were due in January, as other states and foreign governments look to the state for guidance. "California wants to take its time and do this properly," said Susan Shaheen, a professor with UC Berkeley's Transportation Sustainability Research Centre. "They're taking this relatively slowly compared to what Google wants to see. One reason it's going slowly is because California deems that this could be modelled across the United States."

When the Florida Highway Patrol pulled him over this month for driving too fast, Brooks Weisblat didn’t bother telling the officer that his Tesla Model S had been driving itself.

“That would have definitely got me a ticket,” said Weisblat, who got a warning notice instead.

Florida doesn’t have a driver’s handbook dictating robot rules of the road. No state does, but California could become the global model next year when it publishes first-in-the-world consumer rules for self-driving cars.

Those regulations are already a year behind schedule. Among the problems vexing officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles is how to handle not just the machines but their overtrusting owners.

“The technology is ready. I’m not sure the people are ready,” said Weisblat, who along with his Model S and its new Autopilot feature didn’t notice the sign warning that the freeway speed limit had dropped by 10 miles per hour as it approached Miami. “You still need to pay attention.”

Google has for years been testing vehicles near its Mountain View headquarters that are meant to be fully autonomous, requiring no human intervention except a rider’s voice saying “Take me to the supermarket.” But most carmakers developing self-driving technology are working on tools that relieve but don’t entirely replace human drivers.

That leaves some in the industry worried about “The Handoff,” that moment — perhaps just a split-second — when humans must take control back from the machine to avert disaster. Today, drivers of cars equipped with semi-autonomous tools such as automatic braking, adaptive cruise control and sensors that help keep the car in its lane are supposed to be monitoring and supervising whatever the car can do on its own. But as the cars get smarter and able to navigate themselves, the humans in the driver’s seat will increasingly grow comfortable checking text messages, scanning a newspaper and opening up the makeup kit.

“Humans are really bad at evaluating low-probability events,” said Steven Waslander, an engineering professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. “You’ve been driving the same way to and from work every month and then there’s one moment when suddenly you have to be paying attention.”

This is not just a theoretical problem anymore, now that Tesla Motors is allowing drivers to switch on its “Autopilot Mode” that includes adaptive cruise control and letting the car change lanes by itself after the human driver turns on a signal.

That mode falls just short of crossing the line of California’s rules, which authorize corporate road-testing but not the consumer use of truly self-driving cars. As rumors emerged earlier this fall that Tesla would be introducing its semi-autonomous features in tens of thousands of vehicles already on the road, the DMV sent a letter to the Palo Alto-based company clarifying that the cars wouldn’t actually be driving by themselves. State officials met with Tesla just a day before the company reprogrammed its electric cars to allow the new tools.

California categorizes Tesla’s new tools as Level 2 technology, which means it is “just helping drivers make better decisions,” said DMV spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez. It is not considered a Level 3 or Level 4 car, which would mean the “car is making the decisions,” she said.

The public use of such cars that let humans cede control to machines is still banned in California, though 10 companies — including Google, Tesla and major auto firms — are permitted to test them with trained safety drivers.

To discourage drivers from relying too heavily on its imperfect technology, Tesla’s Autopilot is supposed to beep after about 10 seconds of hands-free driving to nudge drivers to grab the wheel again, and after being ignored it can sound louder warnings and turn the radio off.

“We were very comfortable with what they’re doing,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t tell them to do the 10-second thing, but that’s why they did the 10-second thing. They also are saying the driver needs to be in control. They’re not ready to say, ‘Hey, let’s sit back and relax.’ “

Not all Tesla drivers are heeding that advice. Videos posted to YouTube since the new tools were introduced on Oct. 15 show drivers around the country letting the cars take control — with mixed results.

“It’s definitely a big update to wake up and have your car be able to drive by itself,” Weisblat said. “No one’s making you read the manual to know how it works.”

As Google’s more than 70 self-driving vehicles — considered to have more advanced sensing and navigation technology than Tesla’s — continue to cautiously roll around Mountain View streets, Tesla is pushing out new tools that could make its entire customer base an experiment in semi-autonomous technology.

That puts pressure on California to finish its long-awaited draft rules, which were due in January, as other states and foreign governments look to the Golden State for guidance and hope to secure their own piece of the red-hot automotive innovation economy.

“California wants to take its time and do this properly,” said Susan Shaheen, a professor with UC Berkeley’s Transportation Sustainability Research Center. “They’re taking this relatively slowly compared to what Google wants to see. One reason it’s going slowly is because California deems that this could be modeled across the United States.”

Shaheen was part of a state committee that helped California draft rules several years ago governing transportation network companies such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. Those regulations have since been adopted, and tweaked, by dozens of other states.

But unlike those rules that sought to catch up to ride-booking services after they were already growing ubiquitous in big cities, California still has time before fully autonomous cars can ferry TV-watching or napping passengers through urban neighborhoods.

“We’re very excited about the technology. We’re happy that a lot of things are happening in California and we don’t want to lose that,” said Gonzalez, of the DMV. “We just have to be careful because we want to get it right.”

Contact Matt O’Brien at 408-920-5011. Follow him at Twitter.com/Mattoyeah.