Google’s Waymo asks the UK not to curb the use of autonomous vehicles

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Google’s self-driving division Waymo has argued that the UK shouldn’t restrict self-driving cars on the road. His comments come as the UK consults on driverless car regulation. Cars with a certain level of self-driving capability will be allowed on UK roads this year. Loading Something is loading.

Waymo, the self-driving vehicle startup owned by Google, has called on the UK government not to impose limits on the number of self-driving cars allowed on the road.

The tech giant’s $ 30 billion autonomous vehicle division, born in 2016, is at the forefront of driverless car development and faces intense competition from the likes of Tesla, Uber and Cruise.

As part of an ongoing three-year consultation, the UK Law Commission is considering how best to regulate self-driving vehicles in the future, including their role in public transport, their use by ride-hailing services and responsibility of those involved in accidents.

In comments published by the Commission online, the company’s international policymaker, Ben Loewenstein, called on lawmakers not to “limit the spread” of self-driving vehicles. “The UK national approval framework … should not create limited use cases or inhibit distribution,” the company wrote.

“Waymo is concerned that placing limits on deployment, as suggested in the consultation paper, both by number and geography would do just that.”

We saw the comments via The Telegraph.

Loewenstein also called for an independent regulation to be established to oversee the operation of autonomous vehicles in the UK, rather than leaving the laws in the hands of politicians.

“The Law Commission’s conclusion that the final decision to assess acceptable risk is political in nature implies that there is a large degree of subjectivity involved in that process,” he wrote. “We believe that this decision must be made as objectively as possible”.

Driverless vehicles remain mostly in testing in the UK, although the government said this year that vehicles with automated lane keeping systems would be legalized.

The Commission’s consultation, which also attracted comments from autonomous driving company Oxbotica, French auto giant Renault and Uber, is expected to report its findings to Parliament in the fourth quarter of this year.

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