US government’s new framework encourages development of robotaxis without steering wheels, pedals

The United States governmental agency responsible for traffic management has proposed a new national framework that could make it easier for companies to deploy at scale autonomous vehicles without traditional manual driving controls — like steering wheels, pedals, and sideview mirrors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) guidelines also require AV companies to share a whole lot more safety data with the agency.

According to local reports, the AV industry has been anticipating NHTSA’s proposal since last year, when the agency first proposed the ADS-Equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency and Evaluation Program, known as AV STEP.

The program’s goal, among other things, was to allow NHTSA to greenlight the sale and commercialization of autonomous vehicles that are not compliant with federal safety standards due to a lack of manual controls.