question of the day is it too soon for u s regulators to allow driverless carsThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is mulling a decision that would no longer require autonomous vehicles, primarily robotaxis, to have steering wheels. question of the day is it too soon for u s regulators to allow driverless cars"If you're developing a vehicle that is designed never to be driven by a human operator, it doesn't make any sense to require manual controls," said Jonathan Morrison, NHTSA administrator, in a CNBC interview on July 9.The idea shouldn't come as a complete shock as the agency eliminated the requirement for brake pedals in these vehicles in June. Pressure is being applied by companies like Tesla, Waymo, Zoox, and others that are currently testing vehicles that don't have some form of driver controls available to passengers in the event of an emergency.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe idea behind the first driverless vehicles from Alphabet Inc.'s Google, which later spun off to become Waymo, was a vehicle that allowed senior citizens who could no longer navigate roads or handle a car to remain independent with a car that would handle the driving for them.question of the day is it too soon for u s regulators to allow driverless carsTesting is important, but there have been plenty of reported problems with driverless vehicles, including a recent incident where a child was hit while attempting to cross the street to get to school. He suffered minor injuries. Ultimately driverless vehicles will be patrolling America's roads with no driver controls in them, but is it too soon to fully eliminate the mandate for a steering wheel and a brake pedal? You tell us![Images: Zoox, Waymo]Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
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