google car.jpg

Google's driverless car, which has already logged more than one million miles on public streets.

(Google)

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is currently in the process of developing policies that would allow fully autonomous vehicles onto the state's roads for testing. Currently, Pennsylvania law allows for testing of autonomous vehicles -- as long as a driver is sitting behind the wheel.

PennDOT -- and state legislators -- are looking past that, to a near future where vehicles will drive down roads without an operator.

"In the future, from a testing standpoint, it is very possible that under controlled circumstances ... there is the potential that a vehicle could go down the road without a driver or operator behind the wheel," said Kurt Myers, PennDOT deputy director for driver and vehicle services. "In point of fact, it is possible the wheel wouldn't even be present."

PennDOT officials said Wednesday they are hopeful to have policy recommendations completed by November for review. Both the state House and state Senate are considering legislation which would allow for the testing of driverless vehicles under PennDOT's developing guidelines. Further, said PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards, the changes could also allow for the testing of larger vehicles, such a transit buses or heavy trucks on roadways.

If the bills pass the legislature, Pennsylvania would join a handful of states that pushing fast into the autonomous future -- only Florida, California, Michigan, Nevada, and the District of Columbia have passed similar testing laws.

"We want to be able to test these vehicles," said Richards.

Officials have touted the potential societal benefits in encouraging the development of autonomous technology -- reductions in traffic crashes and deaths, improved gas milages and reductions in congestion on major roadways -- but there are economic benefits as well.

In Pittsburgh, where Carnegie Mellon University been developing and researching autonomous vehicles for decades, the rider sharing company Uber built its technology development center and this year began testing autonomous vehicles.

Uber is also an example of what can happen when governmental policies don't keep pace with technical innovations -- the company has a reputation for entering a market first and asking for permission later. Richards said the bills before the legislature are designed to allow the state to keep up with the pace of development.

"The legislation recognizes that the technology is innovating and developing too rapidly ... for either law or regulation to keep up," she said. By enacting legislation now, PennDOT will be able to issue policies that are continuously reviewed, refined and revised to keep pace with development.

PennDOT has been studying driverless technology for a number of years and has already started long-range planning to determine what the technologies could mean for licensing, vehicle registration, infrastructure, etc.

Meanwhile cars with driver-assist features -- including Tesla Motor's "autopilot," an enhanced cruise control that uses cameras and other sensors to automatically steer, change lanes and adjust speed -- have already started hitting the roads.

According to a study by PennDOT and other planning partners, the first fully autonomous vehicles are expected to enter the mainstream market between 2020 and 2030. By 2050 the department expects about 75 percent of all vehicles on the road to be autonomous in some form.

"One of the things we've learned .. is the importance to provide a flexible environment for those people who are developing to technology to allow them to innovate," said Roger Cohen, PennDOT policy director. "The challenge we have is to continuously lay a framework for flexibility that ensures public safety -- and it's that balance we are trying to strike."