The US government has cleared the way for Google to create a self-driving car that doesn't also have a human driver inside the vehicle that can take over if necessary. In this setup, the autonomous driving software itself would be the vehicle's legal "driver"; none of the human passengers would require a driving licence.

In November last year, Google submitted a proposed design to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a self-driving car that has "no need for a human driver." On February 4, as reported by Reuters, the NHTSA responded:

"NHTSA will interpret 'driver' in the context of Google's described motor vehicle design as referring to the (self-driving system), and not to any of the vehicle occupants. We agree with Google its (self-driving car) will not have a 'driver' in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than one hundred years."

Currently, while Google's self-driving car prototypes can operate fully autonomously, they are required to have a human driver inside. They must also have the various accoutrements—a steering wheel and pedals—that would allow the human driver to take over if required. This sounds sensible at first blush, but the NHTSA letter said that Google expressed concern "that providing human occupants of the vehicle with mechanisms to control things like steering, acceleration, braking... could be detrimental to safety because the human occupants could attempt to override the (self-driving system's) decisions."

Now, however, it seems like the US government will allow the self-driving software to be the official driver of the vehicle, which in turn opens the door to rewriting regulations to allow for closed-circuit autonomous driving systems without steering wheels, pedals, and other human-operated mechanisms. For example, right now US regulations stipulate that a car's dashboard must provide an indicator for low tyre pressure; but in the future, that warning would be fed directly into the autonomous driving software.

While this is certainly a big step towards truly driverless cars, there's still quite a long way to go. "The next question is whether and how Google could certify that the (self-driving system) meets a standard developed and designed to apply to a vehicle with a human driver," the NHTSA said.

In January, the US Department of Transport said that it would be willing to waive some regulations to get more self-driving cars onto the roads. Anthony Foxx, the transport chief, said "in 2016, we are going to do everything we can to promote safe, smart, and sustainable vehicles. We are bullish on automated vehicles."

Things are moving quickly in the UK, too: London's transport bosses say they are in "active discussions" with Google, with the hope of getting the company to trial its self-driving cars on the other side of the pond. Self-driving cars are being tested on public roads in the UK, but just like the US they are still required to have a human driver inside who can take over if necessary.