Pending State Laws on Self-Driving Cars Could Block Non-Carmakers

Several states are weighing laws that would allow only established carmakers from testing autonomous vehicles on public roads.

Waymo, the new name of Google’s self-driving car program, objects to the General Motors Co.-inspired legislation as anti-competitive. The company adds that enacting such laws will “only slow down the rollout of life-saving technology and create an uneven playing field at the expense of consumer safety.”

The law, dubbed theSAVe Act, was first drafted in Michigan last spring with input from GM. The measure was signed into law in December after being rephrased to broaden its definition of a qualifying “motor vehicle manufacturer.”

Automotive News says Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Tennessee are pondering bills based on the original restrictive SAVe language. GM tells the newspaper the bill was intended to permit on-road testing by established non-carmakers such as Uber or Waymo but block “fly-by-night” startups.

But AN says technology companies and even other carmakers are worried that the persistence of the original SAVe bill could exclude valuable innovations. Carmakers have urged the federal government to step in with standardized legislative language to avoid a patchwork of incompatible state laws.