This isn&#x27;t a big deal. The NHTSA defined levels of autonomous vehicles back in 2013 They are roughly:<p>Level 0: manual.<p>Level 1: some automation, maybe radar cruse control. (available now)<p>Level 2: smart automatic cruise control plus lane keeping (Available on several high-end cars now. Tesla is at this level, not Level 3)<p>Level 3: automatic driving good enough to handle ordinary driving tasks and route planning. (Google, Cadillac&#x2F;CMU have this in test) but driver sometimes has to take over manually.<p>Level 4: full auto, all road conditions, driver not needed. (nobody really has this yet)<p>Now, the NHTSA is discussing modifying the federal safety standards so that, when Level 4 is achieved, vehicles which achieve will comply with federal motor vehicle standards.<p>Whether to allow autonomous vehicles on roads is a state matter. California DMV currently allows this in test, with manufacturer test drivers only, and requires reporting of incidents.  Current DMV thinking is to stay with that for three years, see how things are going, then reevaluate.  There&#x27;s some whining about this from Google, but realistically, Google doesn&#x27;t have the technology to go beyond that yet.<p>The accident reports are on line.[1] Almost all of them are from Google, and most of them involve someone rear-ending a Google car which was driving cautiously. Except for one incident.<p>Cruise (YC W14) had a crash with a parked car last month, driving on 7th St. in San Francisco.[2] The report indicates that the vehicle swerved to the left under automatic control, then corrected to the right, then the driver took over manual control, and then hit a parked car at 20MPH.  Both vehicles damaged, no injuries. The reported location [3] is across from the SFPD&#x27;s Southern Station and a popular parking place for police vehicles.  They hit a parked Toyota Prius.<p>I&#x27;ve written before about the &quot;deadly valley&quot;: automatic driving good enough that the driver stops paying close attention, but not good enough to drive reliably. Cruise just demonstrated this. You cannot rely on the human driver to suddenly take over from the automatic driving system.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dmv.ca.gov&#x2F;portal&#x2F;dmv&#x2F;detail&#x2F;vr&#x2F;autonomous&#x2F;autonomousveh_ol316" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dmv.ca.gov&#x2F;portal&#x2F;dmv&#x2F;detail&#x2F;vr&#x2F;autonomous&#x2F;auton...</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dmv.ca.gov&#x2F;portal&#x2F;wcm&#x2F;connect&#x2F;bc21ef62-6e7c-4049-a552-0a7c50d92e86&#x2F;Cruise_Automation_01.08.16.pdf?MOD=AJPERES" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dmv.ca.gov&#x2F;portal&#x2F;wcm&#x2F;connect&#x2F;bc21ef62-6e7c-4049...</a>
[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;DoNdYSV8cgq" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;DoNdYSV8cgq</a>