There was fierce lobbying in Washington, DC this week over a Senate bill that, if passed, could unleash a swarm of self-driving cars without typical controls onto public roads. The bill pits some of the biggest car and technology companies in the world against consumer and safety advocates who argue that driverless cars aren’t ready for primetime.

The bill, AV START, is being held up by five Democratic senators. Their objections range from a lack of safeguards allowing a human to retake control of an autonomous vehicle in an emergency to concerns over hacking, privacy, and cybersecurity. Proponents of the bill have concentrated most of their efforts on swaying California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is also facing a difficult re-election this year.

the bill will determine the fate of traditional controls

The bill would loosen federal regulations for the development of self-driving vehicles and speed up the process for getting them on the road. Companies would be allowed to test autonomous vehicles — and even market them to consumers — before new federal safety regulations on the technology are written. Meanwhile, states would be blocked from adopting tougher rules on self-driving cars.

Simply put, the bill will determine the fate of traditional controls, like steering wheels and gas and brake pedals. Companies like GM and Ford have announced plans to manufacture and market fully autonomous vehicles without these controls, but to do so they would need exemptions from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). These regulations prohibit automakers from producing vehicles that don’t include such controls, in addition to common-sense safety features like seat belts and airbags.

Current federal motor vehicle standards “do not contemplate vehicles without human drivers,” Michael Abelson, VP for global strategy at GM, in a congressional hearing last year. “Without changes to those regulations, it may be years before the promise of today’s technology can be realized and thousands of preventable deaths that could have been avoided will happen.”

GM, of course, has a lot riding on this legislation. The company announced recently its plans to mass produce its self-driving Cruise AV, a steering wheel-less Chevy Bolt, starting in 2019. Ford also has said it would begin manufacturing fully driverless cars by 2021. Under current law, the Department of Transportation can exempt up to 2,500 vehicles in a 12-month period from the FMVSS rules. Automakers are seeking to lift that cap to 100,000 cars per year.

GM’s plans to flood the market with Cruise AVs could run into serious headwinds

Without these exemptions, GM’s plans to flood the market with Cruise AVs could run into serious headwinds. Other companies, like Alphabet’s Waymo, have less at stake. Waymo CEO John Krafcik, an auto industry veteran, is more focused on building up a fleet of driverless minivans thanks to a partnership with Fiat Chrysler. Even though Google was one of the first companies to introduce a steering wheel-less autonomous vehicle with the Firefly cars in 2015, its spinoff has since turned away from plans to deploy these types of vehicles. Waymo retired the adorable driverless cars last summer.

In theory, a fully driverless vehicle has multiple backup circuits that operate simultaneously, so crucial elements (electrical power, navigation, and crash detection) won’t completely fail, even if there’s a malfunction. An argument could be made that a self-driving car with a steering wheel is less safe than one without, because a human passenger could grab the wheel and easily cause a crash. But that depends on the car’s manufacturer proving beyond any doubt that the technology controlling the vehicle contains all the safeguards and redundancies necessary to account for lack of the ultimate safeguard: a human driver.

Feinstein and her cohort have serious reservations about the bill, and so far safety groups are cheering them on. The exemptions being sought by car and tech companies are “excessive,” Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said in a letter. And other provisions in the bill would “preempt states and localities from taking basic steps to protect their citizens.”

Others note that a glaring loophole in the bill would protect self-driving car companies from lawsuits, even if the vehicles crash and injure those on board. Consumer advocates caution that AV START benefits big tech and car companies at the expense of average Americans.

The Trump administration has vowed to take an extreme laissez-faire approach, holding listening sessions with the private sector and state regulators about relaxing rules to speed the adoption of self-driving technology. The Obama-era 15-point safety assessment has been reduced to 12 points and made entirely voluntary.

The auto industry is seizing on the new regulation-adverse environment

The auto industry is seizing on the new regulation-adverse environment, delaying promises made to the previous administration on the adoption of life-saving technology such as automatic emergency braking. The Detroit News reported recently that less than a quarter of the manufacturers appear to be on pace to hit the target of installing AEB by 2022.

Meanwhile, the fate of AV START is incredibly uncertain. Feinstein and her cohort appear unmoved by the intense lobbying from GM, Ford, Waymo, Uber, and others who are pushing for the bill’s passage. The holdouts sent a letter to Senate leaders this week indicating they are open to lifting their holds if their recommendations are accommodated.

But if Feinstein sticks to her guns, it could hamper companies like GM, Ford, and others that impressed investors with their plans to do away with steering wheels and pedals. Indeed, some experts believe that a driverless car that allows a human driver to take control isn’t truly driverless. But a lot will come down to trust in autonomous technology, and the ability of companies like GM and Waymo to convince consumers that a driverless car without traditional controls is safe, if not safer, than the cars on the road today.