By Gary M. Kaye
Editor-At-Large & Chief Content Officer, Tech50+
(www.tech50plus.com)
In early October, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee unanimously approved the first comprehensive federal legislation regulating self-driving cars. The bill, which now goes to the full Senate, is very similar to the Self Drive Act approved by the full House of Representatives in early September. The measure will allow the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls. Within three years, the bill would allow automakers to each sell up to 80,000 self-driving vehicles annually if they could demonstrate they are as safe as current vehicles. Auto safety advocates complained it lacked sufficient safeguards. Under the measure, states could not put up regulatory roadblocks, but would still allow for lawsuits in the case of defective vehicles.
The measure has the backing of a major industry coalition including Ford and General Motors, as well as technology companies including Alphabet (parent of Google) and Intel.
Despite advances on the legislative side, there are still major issues that must be resolved before we start seeing lots of self-driving cars on the road. In the wake of a slew of high-profile cyber-attacks, the issue of car hacking has moved to the forefront of the list of concerns. The Department of Transportation in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has spent several years working on proposed rule making for self-driving cars. In their latest revision of those guidelines, “Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision For Safety,” released this September, the DOT specifically calls on developers of self-driving cars to address cyber-security concerns
The hacking question
So far most of the self-driving car guidelines have been voluntary, but by the time they hit the road, some cybersecurity protections could well become a mandate. There’s already evidence that automotive systems can be hacked. A series of experiments found that a hacker with either wired or over-the-internet access to a vehicle could disable or slam on a victim's brakes, turn the steering wheel or even cause unintended acceleration. An even more serious concern is the possibility of hacking a moving vehicle to turn it into a weapon.
I spoke with Michael Macauley, CEO of Quadrant Information Services, which provides analytical data to the insurance industry about some of the cybersecurity issues:
“I think with any technology regardless of its level, there’s always hacking potential… You’re working off the big system some place in the cloud, if its automated there’s the opportunity for someone to break into it and there’s that’s exposure. I don’t think there’s anyway around it. If it’s built, it can be hacked,” he said.
I asked Mccauley whether there’s a greater risk for cars that communicate with the cloud, or to vehicles that are truly autonomous.
“I don’t know that perhaps the car Ford, Volvo, or anyone else are thinking about are going to be anything but self-contained. But even if its self-contained, it’s still relying on the GPS so you’ll find if we’re concerned about hacking, there’s still a way to hack that,” he noted.
Cybersecurity is a significant concern for companies promoting self-driving cars. Uber has a team dedicated to building a system protected against cyber-attacks. That team included hackers experienced in hacking cars already on the road, with a goal to better secure Uber’s system.
Both Uber and Lyft are implementing tests of self-driving vehicles, and have partnerships within the automotive industry to get cars on the road. Uber – which is working with Volvo and Daimler – has trials in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and in Tempe, Arizona where riders could be matched with a self-driving car when they request an UberX. Those Ubers have an operator in the front seat to monitor vehicle behavior. In one year since launching its Pittsburgh pilot Uber has driven over 1 million autonomous miles and completed over 30,000 trips.
Lyft, which has a pilot program in San Francisco, recently announced a partnership with Ford, and has already been working with companies including Waymo, a Google company, Jaguar, and GM, a major investor. Lyft wants to build it’s own system, so it won’t be totally tied to the timeline of its partners.
The insurance question
Beyond automakers, the government, and technology, there’s still at least one major issue – in the event the self-driving car has to decide between driving off the road and potentially killing an occupant, or hitting a child who has run into the street, who is liable?
Mccauley said there’s no clear answer. The person in the front seat isn’t really the driver, so how can he be responsible? Could it be the car’s maker? The provider of the navigation software? No one knows for sure
“When I asked the insurance companies what they think of autonomous vehicles, they kind of all look at each other like we don’t know what to say about autonomous vehicles because we don’t have anything to make an assessment.” Mccauley said. “Its my car, but it’s the manufacturer’s technology so what am I insuring? I’m not driving the car. Your technology is driving the car. Are you insuring it, or am I insuring it? And no insurance company has been willing to even address that.”
But Mccauley believes that the process is now inevitable.
“I think Ford Motor Company has projected that in 2021 they’ll have a car for sale that is an autonomous car, and that’s not a prototype, that’s a ‘go down to your ford dealer and buy an autonomous car.’ And 2021 is not too far away,” he said.
Gary Kaye is the creator of Tech50+ (www.tech50plus.com), the leading website covering technology from the Baby Boomer perspective. Kaye has been covering high tech for more than 30 years with outlets including NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox Business. He is a regular contributor to AARP and other websites on issues regarding the nexus of technology, seniors and baby boomers.
