Should autonomous vehicles be regulated in Virginia?

This article was first published in the Virginia Mercury. Last week when Virginia's new Secretary of Transportation Sheppard Miller publicly declared his belief that flying cars will be a reality within the next 50 years as a reason that leaders across the commonwealth should "reexamine transit," some might have scoffed. But just as flying cars consumed the fantasies of many mid-century Americans, today plenty of people put their faith in another utopian technology replete with endlessly elusive promises of improved safety and unbridled freedom: autonomous vehicles. As is often the case in the United States, the regulation of autonomous vehicles is largely left to the states, resulting in a patchwork of conflicting and confusing policies where some sort of national approach ought to exist. Any state has the right to craft their own legal framework for the emerging technology but few have -- our commonwealth included.