Self Driving Trucks coming Dallas to Houston

[buynholdisdead]

@albaby1

That’s absolutely correct. Operation of vehicles is regulated by the states, not the feds. As long as the trucks have all the equipment installed that’s required by the federal safety standards, the feds have no jurisdiction over whether they are operated with or without drivers.

Well you should have said that before instead of arguing the other side. It seems convenient to forget what you said so let me remind you.

[quote=“buynholdisdead, post:71, topic:104380, full:true”]

@albaby1

Albaby1
To put this back in the context of the thread, we’re talking about a robotaxi business. So a state that allows autonomous driving but requires a licensed driver in the front seat won’t work for a robotaxi service. The taxis have to be able to travel from one fare to another without a driver in the car. Similarly, a state like California allows robotaxis - but subject to such restrictions and “proof of concept” that it will pose a substantial barrier to a new entrant (like Tesla) trying to get up to scale. It took Waymo two and a half years of regulatory oversight before they could expand from SF to LA - and only to a modest test area subject to severe speed limitations at that.

Buynholdisdead
It really doesn’t matter how many states. What you are missing is that it is allowed in any state. That gives them a place to run them and then proceed forward. We are coming at this problem from two different viewpoints. You think everything has to be done all at once at the federal level in order to proceed. What I am trying to show you, and I have, that the states can do this without the federal ok. But until one is on the streets you are not going to believe it, I am fine with that, although I disagree. With 1 state, 2 states, 3 states, the writing is on the wall.

albaby1:

Texas and California have no jurisdiction over whether a car has a steering wheel or not. The federal government has sole jurisdiction over regulating the physical characteristics of a car. They have completely pre-empted the states in that area. Texas and California can regulate how the car is operated - whether there’s a driver behind the wheel - but not whether a carmaker is allowed to manufacture a vehicle for use on the public roads that doesn’t meet the federal motor vehicle safety standards.

Buynholdisdead
I think the same argument was put forth on Marijuana companies but here we are. It’s not unusual for states to allow things to happen that the Federal government is against.

albaby1:

It’s weird, then, that GM has filed a formal petition requesting an exception from the rules that you say have been changed to allow a car without a steering wheel. You’d think they wouldn’t do that - much less get into a legal fight with the Teamsters union - if it was irrelevant.

buynholdisdead

Not really, the old, staid companies are no longer driving this. It is perfectly logical for GM to take that route, they can’t think of any other way around it. As far as the Teamsters are concerned, they are a union entity and the unions are embedded into GM and so they have to console them. Something Tesla doesn’t have to worry about, at least yet. As you have shown with UBER, who found ways around one of the most regulated industries, there are always ways to move forward. Tesla will find them and might be one of the reasons Tesla is in Texas and California.

Andy

I think the same argument was put forth on Marijuana companies but here we are. It’s not unusual for states to allow things to happen that the Federal government is against.

Albaby1
But only if the federal government declines to enforce the federal prohibition.

Is that what you think is going to happen? That the NHTSA - which is currently all over Tesla in their Autopilot investigations - is just going to ignore Tesla manufacturing vehicles that violate the FMVSS?

You can find that all in our past conversation. Which was only a week ago.

Andy