When it Comes to Autonomous Cars, the Department of Transportation Says 'Drivers' Don't Have to Be Human

The Department of Transportation is getting a little more creative about how it defines "driver," Secretary Elaine Chao announced Thursday. In the third version of the department's official stance on self-driving, the department said it would "adapt the definitions of'driver' and'operator' to recognize that such terms to not refer exclusively to a human, but may in fact include an automated system." The computers have a ticket to drive now--at least where federal regulations are concerned. And while this is good news for everyone working on building, and eventually deploying, self-driving vehicles, it's especially welcome for the automated trucking crowd. Waymo, Daimler, Volvo, Embark Trucks, Kache.ai,