Early one morning last year, as Rep. Josh Bray left his diminutive southeastern Kentucky town of Mount Vernon to make his way to the Capitol in Frankfort, he decided to count how many drivers he saw texting or doing something was distracted by something else.
He stopped counting after 24 when he saw a truck driver reading a newspaper on the road.
The incident spurred efforts by Republican lawmakers to pass a bill in the Kentucky legislature this spring that would set rules for self-driving vehicles, including the largest commercial vehicles after July 2026. Bray believes the rules will ensure that self-driving vehicles are safer than those operated by often distracted human drivers.
The recent law For fully autonomous vehicles — those designed to operate without a human driver — owners must submit a safety and communications plan that law enforcement can apply and carry liability insurance of at least $1 million per vehicle 10 times higher than the amount for normal private vehicles.
“I felt like there was a need to have something on the books in Kentucky because we’re kind of a logistics hub,” Bray said. For example, he said, self-driving baggage handling vehicles at an airport in northern Kentucky A state highway can now be crossed.
Lawmakers approved the bill in behind schedule March and a few weeks later overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who said the bill moved too quickly and that there needed to be a testing period before fully autonomous vehicles would be allowed to operate in the state.
While fully autonomous cars are not yet in regular apply in the country, some states have allowed narrow testing and pilot programs on public roads. Many state legislatures are trying to get ahead of self-driving vehicles that will eventually hit their roads by setting standards for how the vehicles operate and rules for law enforcement if they find an autonomous vehicle violating a traffic law. And many laws, such as Kentucky, require minimum insurance to protect drivers, passengers and pedestrians if the vehicles are involved in an accident.
According to Douglas Shinkle, deputy director for environment, energy and transportation at the National Conference of State Legislatures, five states and Washington, D.C. have passed bills addressing fully automated vehicles this year. The recent laws in AlabamaKentucky and South Dakota enable the operation of fully autonomous vehicles California New law addresses safety requirements. North Carolina brings the vehicles under the updated dealer regulations for all cars.
Updates to current laws
About half of states already have laws regulating vehicles that operate with some level of autonomous technology — from fully autonomous vehicles that aren’t yet on the road to those that have some driver-assistance features, Shinkle said . However, many laws are already being changed.
“There has been a steady evolution of the bills,” he said, “with some going back and some wording being refined. “A few recent states are added every year.”
Most of the recent laws this year have to do with commercial vehicles, he said. States hope to include vehicle manufacturers or other industries that would apply the technology.
“A lot of this is motivated by states not wanting to be left behind,” Shinkle said. “They hope this leads to jobs in their states.”
However, unions fear that the technology could lead to the loss of driver jobs.
Dustin Reinstedler, president of the Kentucky chapter of the AFL-CIO, testified against the bill in his state, saying at a hearing that his union favored alternative legislation that would require a study on the “impact of autonomous vehicles on our roads and workplaces.” demand from over 50,000 workers.”
Autonomous ride-hailing vehicles from Waymo, formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project, are already seen in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco and are allowed to operate in narrow areas.
Safety concerns
Fully autonomous vehicles raise safety concerns. California enacted a law This year, this will require, among other things, manufacturers to continually monitor every autonomous vehicle on the road and designate a remote operator to decommission a vehicle if necessary. The law also allows law enforcement to issue a non-compliance notice if autonomous vehicles violate local traffic laws.
Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began one Investigation There have been four accidents involving Teslas using a partial automation system (which can navigate highways and steer the car on city streets but requires the presence of a licensed driver), including one in which a pedestrian was killed. In a news release, NHTSA said reduced visibility may have led to the accidents.
An NHTSA spokesman said in an email that in each incident, the Tesla entered an area with reduced roadway visibility due to sun, glare, fog or dust. She did not want to elaborate or be identified.
Bray, the Kentucky lawmaker, argued that self-driving vehicles and driver-assistance vehicles are “much safer than human drivers.” He added that fully autonomous vehicles such as enormous trucks could operate in the middle of the night, relieving traffic from the roads during rush hour and reducing the risk of tired drivers falling asleep.
The idea of semi-trucks without drivers makes Republican Sen. Greg Elkins of Kentucky uncomfortable. He opposed the bill and supported the governor’s veto.
“My reasoning was that I don’t think the technology is there yet, especially with 18-wheelers,” he said in an interview. “I would have agreed with the bill that would have made a restriction [it to smaller vehicles].”
Alabama recent law Fully autonomous vehicles require at least $100,000 in liability insurance, about the same as regular cars.
California’s recent law requires $5 million in insurance for manufacturers testing autonomous vehicles on state highways in case one of them has an accident.
I just don’t think the technology is there yet, especially with 18 wheelers.
– Kentucky Republican State Senator Greg Elkins
Robert Passmore, vice president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a trade group of insurance companies, said that if individual autonomous vehicles are used regularly, insurance companies would still have to answer the question of “who was driving at the time.” He argued that liability insurance should be equivalent to that required for regular cars with a driver.
“Our position is that these vehicles should be equally insured,” he said. “The things that can happen while driving are largely the same. Whatever the minimum limits are for this type of vehicle, they are probably appropriate [for autonomous vehicles]. Most people wear more than the minimum anyway.”
