California Announces Regulations For Autonomous Car Testing

Just as manufacturers and other businesses at the edge of autonomous vehicle technology are announcing advances in the field—including, most recently, Google's fully-autonomous prototype vehicle, featuring no controls other than a programmable navigation computer—California has announced regulations designed to govern the testing of these cars on public roads.

The regulations impose some straight-forward requirements on manufacturers looking to test these technologies, including:

• That the manufacturer be the one actually conducting the testing, and must certify that the driver is competent to conduct the testing. Each driver must also have relatively clean driving records (no more than one "point" on his or her license under the California Vehicle Code, and no DUIs for the last ten years), obtain a new class of permit designed for autonomous vehicle operators, and undergo defensive driving training and training on operating the vehicle in question.