Traveling at night in Cruise (Image: Cruise)
What’s at stake:
AV companies in early 2023 are facing an unprecedented level of scrutiny. The city of San Francisco and federal safety regulators want to know a lot more about their technologies and how their systems are set up for safer operation on public roads. The authorities’ focus is less on the promise of AVs saving lots of lives in the long run, but on the records and operational data AV companies have yet to disclose.
The data – or its absence of it – has enabled progress for autonomous vehicle (AV) developers, despite the newness of the industry. Among the advancements they have made are public road testing, deployment of AVs without safety drivers, commercial rollout with paying passengers, and even the drafting of bills — extremely favorable to AV companies — for state legislatures.