The Department of Transportation plans to craft guidelines for states to regulate autonomous driving before President Barack Obama leaves office. A release Thursday from the federal agency said that it plans to craft model legislation within six months. "For policymakers at all levels, the governing principal should be that technologies with proven, data-supported benefits that would make roads safer should be encouraged," the release stated. Many states are in the process of crafting rules for autonomous driving, as companies such as Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +0.04% GOOG, +0.06% , Tesla Motors Inc. TSLA, +5.30% and traditional automakers develop technology that could lead to driverless cars.