Former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney caught flak for declaring "Corporations are people, my friend." The Tennessee state Senate has added an additional definition of a person: An engaged automated driving system.

Tennessee Senate Bill 151 makes a number of revisions to the state's motor vehicle codes regarding the use of automated driving systems. The bill defines automated driving systems as follows:

"'Automated driving system' or 'ADS' means technology installed on a motor vehicle that has the capability to drive the vehicle on which the technology is installed in high or full-automation mode, without any supervision by a human operator, with specific driving mode performance by the automated driving system of all aspects of the dynamic driving task that can be managed by a human driver, including the ability to automatically bring the motor vehicle into a minimal risk condition in the event of a critical vehicle or system failure or other emergency event."

Though clearly intended to pave the way for autonomous cars, this definition seems to encompass existing systems such as Tesla's Autopilot or Cadillac's SuperCruise. Many of the updates and revisions to existing laws address questions of liability and responsibility when ADS is engaged. For example, ADS is not considered responsible for making sure children are wearing seat belts, which human drivers are. This is an area of great concern, and it is good to see the Tennessee legislature actively addressing this topic while the federal government seems to be throwing caution to the wind.