The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday released an overview of the federal government's automated vehicles policy, which includes a checklist for makers on various aspects of the cars they are developing, as well as guidelines to states on evolving a common framework for regulating the new technologies. "Automated vehicles have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives each year," wrote Obama in an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday. That's what harnessing technology for good can look like. But we have to get it right," he added. Obama wrote that the quickest way to slam the brakes on innovation is if the public loses confidence in the safety of the new technology, and the responsibility of both government and industry is to make sure it doesn't happen.

The Obama administration said companies developing driverless cars should adopt a series of government recommendations to certify their vehicles are ready for U.S. roads, a policy aimed at front-running possible conflicting local rules and potentially reducing traffic fatalities. The U.S. Transportation Department, in guidelines to be rolled out Tuesday, urges that car makers and other developers submit to a 15-point "safety assessment" outlining how driverless cars are tested, safeguards should systems fail and how...