LA Gets Serious About Self-Driving Cars

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles City Council signaled Wednesday that it wants to take a more active role in the development of federal and state autonomous vehicle regulations, and supports an increase of local government access to AV data.

Autonomous vehicles were recently approved for road tests in California, and a series of fatal accidents involving the autos have raised questions about their reliability.

The council passed a resolution that says the city "should support this new technology and take an active role in the development of federal and state AV regulations," while also pointing out that Mayor Eric Garcetti last year was appointed co-chair of a federal advisory committee on automation and AV technology.

The mayor's role on the committee "provides the city an unparalleled opportunity to shape the implementation of AV," according to the resolution, which says the city should support any state or federal legislation that would increase local government access to data, such as accidents and unplanned disengagements. It also says the city should support legislation that would prioritize the need for standardized operating plans or law enforcement personnel, and other regulations.

The resolution was approved 11-1, with Councilman Paul Koretz casting the dissenting vote.

"The thing that's missing I think is urging some caution, as well, and urging that these vehicles aren't tested on our public streets," Koretz said before the vote. "That when they are fully tested and are declared to be safe, then we get on the bandwagon, but until then we encourage adequate testing of scenarios and flaws in the system and make sure we're not endangering our residents by what we're encouraging."

Councilman Mike Bonin, who authored the resolution, said it actually seeks more local control and more data sharing, adding "it's about giving us the opportunity to shape it in a way that addresses your concerns."

Koretz was not convinced.

"I just wish that it would express our concerns a little more succinctly and not make it sound like we're checking data on accidents as opposed to looking at ways that we can forestall those vehicles from being on our streets and being driven by a driver until we are certain that there's some safety behind it," he said.

City News Service; : An Uber self-driving car drives down 5th Street on March 28, 2017 in San Francisco, California. Cars in Uber's self-driving cars are back on the roads after the program was temporarily halted following a crash in Tempe, Arizona on Friday. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)