The policy's 15-point safety assessment includes guidelines on how companies should validate their self-driving systems, how their vehicles should record and share data and how AVs should act after a crash. It also has guidelines covering the system's user interface and its ability to protect a user's privacy. You can see a short description of each guideline in the DOT's document, but the the department is slated to release a longer, more detailed version on Tuesday.

As for the division of responsibilities between authorities, the policy states that feds will be in charge of setting safety standards, investigating and managing recalls, as well as enforcing compliance with safety standards. State authorities, on the other hand, will be in charge of licensing human drivers and registering AVs, enforcing traffic laws and conducting safety inspections. In short, as the DOT told Vox, the feds are in charge when the software is driving, but state authorities are when the human driver is the one steering the wheel.

DOT secretary Anthony Foxx is hoping that the points the agency tackled in the policy will help it "avoid a patchwork of state laws." The POTUS also championed self-driving vehicles by publishing an op-ed piece for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the same time the policy was released, wherein he talked about their potential to save lives: