US automakers outline rules for auto-driving cars after fatal crashes

US automakers have outlined principles designed to encourage drivers to pay attention to the road while driving partially automated vehicles as political scrutiny of the technology intensifies following a series of fatal crashes. The proposals, published yesterday before a Senate subcommittee hearing on the future of automotive safety and technology, come days after two men using Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system were killed in a crash near Houston. Executives with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents at least 20 automakers including General Motors, Ford and Toyota, proposed that vehicles with auto-driving systems should include driver monitoring as standard equipment. Those systems could include cameras to make sure drivers are paying attention, and that those systems should be designed so they cannot be "disengaged or disabled". If drivers don't pay attention, car features should issue warnings or take corrective action such as disengaging the automated systems.