Self-driving car lobby wants NHTSA to gear up faster for nationwide debut

LOS ANGELES – An industry-backed autonomous car lobbying group on Tuesday urged U.S. regulators to go further to remove speed bumps than what was laid out in guidelines published two months ago. In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a Self-Driving Coalition founded early this year by Google, Ford, Volvo, Uber and Lyft hailed the framework but called anew for nationwide rules to speed the safe rollout of the technology. The group asked the NHTSA to "affirmatively discourage states from embarking on creating a patchwork of inconsistent laws and regulations that will stifle this emerging industry." Instead, the coalition contended, regulators should put in place a national framework of rules for self-driving vehicles. As published, the guidelines leave the potential for states to put in place overly restrictive or inconsistent regulations, the group argued.