Driverless Car Laws In California Get Major Changes In September

California transportation authorities made two major changes in their policy on autonomous vehicles. The state, which is already relatively progressive with its laws for self-driving automobiles, continues to be a leader in adopting policies that give companies testing driverless cars more latitude. The first change, a new bill signed into law on Sept. 29, gives the Contra Costa Transportation Authority permission to test a pilot project on public roads without having a driver behind the wheel. Prior to this, the state only allowed public road testing if a human driver was in the driver's seat and "capable of taking immediate manual control of the vehicle in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency." The bill requires the autonomous vehicles to be insured for 5 million, for the self-driving automobiles to not exceed 35 miles per hour on the road, and for testing data to be shared with the government and while placing geographic restrictions.