US expected to update self-driving car guidelines

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is expected to announce updated safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles Tuesday during a visit to a Michigan vehicle testing facility. The Obama administration released largely voluntary guidelines for automated vehicles last...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is expected to announce updated safety guidelines for self-driving vehicles Tuesday during a visit to a Michigan vehicle testing facility.

The Obama administration released largely voluntary guidelines for automated vehicles last fall, under which automakers are supposed to follow a 15-point safety assessment before putting test vehicles on the road. The guidelines also made clear that the federal government — not states — would determine whether the vehicles were safe.

The Trump administration is expected to keep the guidelines voluntary but streamline them.

Regulators and lawmakers have been struggling to keep up with the pace of self-driving technology. There are no fully self-driving vehicles for sale, but autonomous cars with backup drivers are being tested in numerous states.

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