California DMV Considers ‘Driverless Cars’ Regulations

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is wading into the complex question of how to regulate the use of cars that rely on computers – not people – to drive them.

Though they sound like something from the future, “driverless cars” could be commercially available by decade’s end.

On Tuesday, the DMV heard ideas on how to integrate the cars onto public roads. Questions rangde from data privacy and security – to whether a person will have to be in the driver’s seat at all.

The DMV already has drafted rules governing how companies can test the technology. That was a reaction to the fact that Google had been testing on highways and in neighborhoods well before the Legislature decided to regulate.