Summary: With only slight tongue in cheek about the road ahead we report on the just passed House of Representative's new "Federal Automated Vehicle Policy" as well as similar policy just emerging in Germany. As a model of regulation on emerging AI technology we think they got this just about right. Just today (9/6/17) the US House of Representatives released its 116 page "Federal Automated Vehicles Policy". This still has to be reconciled and approved by the Senate but word is that shouldn't take long. Equally as interesting is that just two weeks ago the German federal government published its guidelines for Highly Automated Vehicles (HAV being the new name of choice for these vehicles).

The legislation contains rules such as saving humans before animals and property, saving lives without discrimination and that self-driving software should contain safeguards against malicious hacking. Germany has taken a novel approach, rather than concentrating on self-driven cars, it concentrates on self-driving software -- most self-driving legislation concentrates on self-driven cars and consequences of putting them on roads and literally in charge of human lives. The German legislation concentrates on the root of self-driving, the computers, and software used to run self-driven cars. This makes it essential that decisions be taken when programming the software of conditionally and highly automated driving systems."

Tesla Motors' cars kinda drive themselves, but its Autopilot technology has caused some headaches for the company. Consumer Reports called on Tesla to recall the feature, calling it "too much autonomy, too soon." A Florida man died in a crash while using Autopilo. And now, German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt asked Tesla to ditch the term "Autopilot," arguing it can lead consumers to think the car is far more capable than it is. First Look: Here's How Tesla Improved its UI and Autopilot Before going further, a note: Model S and Model X vehicles with Autopilot can stay in their lane and maintain a safe speed.

This month, Germany's transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed a bill to provide the first legal framework for autonomous vehicles. It would govern how such cars perform in collisions where lives might be lost. The laws attempt to deal with what some call the "death valley" of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future. Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always opts for property damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on categories such as age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the steering wheel – to check email, say – the car's manufacturer is liable if there is a collision. "The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving," says Dobrindt.

Germany is gearing up to lay down the ethical foundations for self-driving cars, banning A.I. from making decisions that could harm one group of people over another. The country's transport minister has outlined the basis for future legal guidelines for driverless vehicles, rules that echo Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, which manufacturers will be expected to work towards ahead of formal legalization. Dobrindt has created an ethics commission to work out the specifics in terms of regulation, but the above rules will serve as a starting point for future laws. The third rule may seem to suggest that the manufacturer cannot depend on the driver stepping in during an emergency, but Dobrindt indicated that drivers will be expected to have a basic awareness at all times. In practice, this will likely mean sleeping at the wheel is forbidden, but reading a book is allowed.