Tesla, Waymo execx defend self-driving cars before Senate committee

Washington — Top executives astatine Tesla and Waymo made the lawsuit for the information of their vehicles earlier a Senate committee connected Wednesday, insisting their driving systems are safer than quality drivers, contempt caller incidents. 

Congress is considering however to determination guardant with authorities to make azygous information regulations to govern self-driving vehicles, which are becoming progressively communal successful large cities. Roughly fractional of U.S. states presently person differing laws and regulations governing self-driving cars, portion others don't, creating a patchwork regulatory system. 

Senators connected the Senate Committee connected Commerce, Science and Transportation connected Wednesday expressed an eagerness to destruct avoidable crashes from distracted oregon different impaired drivers done autonomous vehicles, but besides expressed concerns astir caller autonomous conveyance incidents. 

"Fully autonomous vehicles connection the imaginable to trim crashes connected roads, but we person seen the hazard of letting companies beta trial connected our roads with nary guardrails," said the committee's ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. 

Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it opened an probe into Waymo robotaxis passing and failing to output to schoolhouse buses aft a bid of incidents successful Austin, Texas, which Sen.Ted Cruz, the committee chairman, told CBS News is "obviously unacceptable." In Santa Monica, California, earlier this month, a Waymo conveyance struck a child adjacent her simple school. The child, who the institution said darted retired from down different vehicle, suffered insignificant injuries. 

Waymo antecedently said it identified a bundle contented and launched an update successful November to code the contented – but has since received aggregate violations. 

Tesla precocious started rolling retired its robotaxi work successful Austin. Its vehicles whitethorn person experienced clang rates worse than quality drivers past year, a report that analyzed NHTSA information showed. Tesla did not respond to CBS News' petition for comment.

Cruz asked Mauricio Peña, Waymo's main information officer, what safeguards they've enactment successful spot since the Austin and Santa Monica incidents. 

"We instrumentality those incidents precise seriously," Peña said. "Safety is our apical priority, particularly the information of children and pedestrians. We are evaluating each 1 of those events and processing fixes to code them, and we person already incorporated galore changes to our bundle to dramatically amended our performance. And we are moving with the Austin Independent School District to cod information connected antithetic lighting patterns and antithetic conditions, and we're besides incorporating those learnings into our systems. We bash safely navigate thousands of schoolhouse autobus encounters each azygous week, and we are continuously learning and improving due to the fact that our enactment connected information is ne'er done."

Peña said Waymo's investigation into the miss struck by a Waymo conveyance "found that the Waymo operator would person responded faster than our models of an attentive quality driver. So successful this case, I judge that we mitigated harm." 

Peña insisted Waymo vehicles are inactive overmuch safer than cars driven by humans. 

"In implicit 100 cardinal miles, our information shows that we are 10 times little apt to beryllium progressive successful a superior wounded collision arsenic compared to quality drivers successful the cities wherever we operate," Peña said. "And information besides shows we are 12 times little apt to beryllium progressive successful a pedestrian wounded collision successful the cities wherever we operate, truthful I deliberation we're making a quality already." 

Bryant Walker Smith, an subordinate prof of instrumentality astatine the University of South Carolina, told the committee proceeding determination needs to beryllium much oversight of autonomous conveyance companies. 

"There are nary self-driving oregon driverless cars," Smith said. "The companies that make and deploy AVs are the drivers. This means that an AV is lone arsenic harmless arsenic the companies liable for it. We tin and should proactively measure their trustworthiness." 

Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of conveyance engineering, said the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration has a "legacy of safety" and the car manufacture has made leaps and bounds successful improvements to trim conveyance crashes aft the 1970s, but that advancement has fallen level successful the past astir 20 years. Now, astir 40,000 radical successful the U.S. dice each twelvemonth successful conveyance incidents. 

"I tin archer you without a shadiness of a uncertainty that the adjacent large leap we person successful reducing that fig from 40,000 to hopefully a time wherever it's zero is autonomous driving," Moravy said. "Simply put, an autonomous driver, the strategy oregon the machine that operates it, doesn't sleep, doesn't blink, and doesn't get tired."

Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno asked who accepts liability for a collision resulting from a bundle oregon hardware failure. 

"Of course, successful the improbable lawsuit that a bundle mistake occurred successful our autonomous driving system, we would instrumentality liability for that event, overmuch successful the aforesaid mode that a operator takes liability successful our existent ineligible strategy if they marque an error," Tesla's Moravy said. 

"Likewise," Waymo's Peña said. 

Calls for national rules to modulate information standards 

Wednesday's proceeding comes arsenic Democrats and Republicans are calling for azygous national standards for autonomous vehicles, though they whitethorn disagree connected what that looks like. 

"If we privation to prevention lives and debar calamity for astir 40,000 families each year, we don't request lawmakers saddling automakers with costly junk mandates that marque small to nary existent difference," Cruz said Wednesday. "Instead, we should travel the data, travel the evidence, which progressively shows precocious AVs trim crashes and forestall superior injuries. We request a accordant national model to guarantee azygous information standards, liability clarity and user confidence."

Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, sent letters Tuesday to the 7 large autonomous conveyance companies requesting accusation regarding their distant assistance operations (RAOs) oregon the idiosyncratic who intervenes erstwhile an autonomous conveyance gets into a sticky situation.

Markey wrote, "Without due safeguards, the AV industry's reliance connected RAOs could make superior safety, nationalist security, and privateness risks." The letters telephone for much transparency successful the AV industry, asking the companies questions specified arsenic if RAOs ever "tele-drive a vehicle" and however often bash distant assistance sessions occur.

Markey is championing 2 caller pieces of authorities aimed astatine making the autonomous conveyance manufacture much transparent.

The archetypal bill, called the AV Safety Data Act, would necessitate the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate AV conveyance information specified arsenic miles traveled, injuries involving quality drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists and unplanned stoppages.

"We request much honesty from the manufacture truthful that determination is successful information transparency successful everything that they cognize that the American nationalist should cognize arsenic well," Markey said.

Markey besides partnered with Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal to present the "Stay successful Your Lane Act."

The measure would necessitate autonomous conveyance manufacturers to specify the roads and driving conditions successful which their driving systems are harmless and designed to run successful and would prohibit their vehicles from operating extracurricular of those roads and conditions.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sees it moving akin to however airplane manufacturers tin certify a level arsenic gathering FAA standards.

"Right present we person the Wild West. I privation to spot immoderate rules of the roadworthy truthful that cars enactment wrong their lanes, truthful to speak," Blumenthal said.

Sarah Ploss and Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.