BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1298
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1298 (Padilla)
          As Amended  August 20, 2012
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :37-0  
           
           TRANSPORTATION      13-0        APPROPRIATIONS      12-0        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal,         |Ayes:|Gatto, Blumenfield,       |
          |     |Achadjian, Blumenfield,   |     |Bradford,                 |
          |     |Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng,   |     |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
          |     |Furutani, Galgiani,       |     |Davis, Fuentes, Hall,     |
          |     |Logue, Miller, Norby,     |     |Hill, Cedillo, Mitchell,  |
          |     |Portantino, Solorio       |     |Solorio                   |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Establishes conditions for the operation of autonomous 
          vehicles upon public roadways.  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding new 
            technologies that permit motor vehicles to operate without the 
            active control and continuous monitoring of a human operator 
            and the need to encourage the current and future development, 
            testing, and operation of autonomous vehicles on the state's 
            public roads.  

          2)Defines "autonomous technology" as a technology that has the 
            capability to drive a vehicle without the active physical 
            control or continuous monitoring by a human operator.  

          3)Defines an "autonomous vehicle" as any vehicle equipped with 
            autonomous technology that has been integrated into that 
            vehicle.  

          4)Specifies that an autonomous vehicle does not include a 
            vehicle that is equipped with one or more collision avoidance 
            systems, including, but not limited to, electronic blind spot 
            assistance, automated emergency braking systems, park assist, 
            adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, lane departure 
            warning, traffic jam and queuing assist, or other similar 
            systems that enhance safety or provide driver assistance, but 
            are not capable, collectively or singularly, of driving the 








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            vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human 
            operator.  

          5)Defines an "operator" of an autonomous vehicle as the person 
            who is seated in the driver's seat, or if there is no person 
            in the driver's seat, causes the autonomous technology to 
            engage.  

          6)Defines a "manufacturer" of autonomous technology as the 
            person who originally manufactures a vehicle and equips 
            autonomous technology on the originally completed vehicle or, 
            in the case of a vehicle not originally equipped with 
            autonomous technology by the vehicle manufacturer, the person 
            that modifies the vehicle by installing autonomous technology 
            to convert it to an autonomous vehicle after the vehicle was 
            originally manufactured.  

          7)Allows an autonomous vehicle to be operated on public roads by 
            a driver who possesses the proper license for the vehicle 
            being operated if it is being operated on roads in this state 
            solely by employees, contractors, or other persons designated 
            by the manufacturer of the autonomous technology for testing 
            purposes.  Under this scenario, the driver must be seated in 
            the driver's seat, monitoring the safe operation of the 
            autonomous vehicle, and shall be capable of taking over 
            immediate manual control of the autonomous vehicle in the 
            event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency.  
            Prior to the start of testing in this state, the person 
            performing the testing must obtain an instrument of insurance, 
            surety bond, or proof of self-insurance, as specified in 
            Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) regulations, in the amount 
            of $5 million dollars.  

          8)Allows, alternatively, such vehicles to be operated on public 
            roads if the manufacturer of the autonomous technology 
            provides all of the following:

             a)   The autonomous vehicle has a mechanism to engage and 
               disengage the autonomous technology that is easily 
               accessible to the operator;

             b)   The autonomous vehicle has a visual indicator inside the 
               cabin to indicate when the autonomous technology is 
               engaged;








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             c)   The autonomous vehicle has a system to safely alert the 
               operator if an autonomous technology failure is detected 
               while the autonomous technology is engaged, and when an 
               alert is given, the system does either of the following:

               i)     Require the operator to take control of the 
                 autonomous vehicle; or,
                   
               ii)    Allow the autonomous vehicle to come to a complete 
                 stop if the operator does not or is unable to take 
                 control of the autonomous vehicle.  

             d)   The autonomous vehicle allows the operator to take 
               control in multiple manners, including, without limitation, 
               through the use of the brake, the accelerator pedal, or the 
               steering wheel, and alerts the operator that the autonomous 
               technology has been disengaged;

             e)   The autonomous vehicle's autonomous technology meets 
               Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for the vehicle's 
               model year and all other applicable safety standards and 
               performance requirements set forth in state and federal law 
               and the regulations promulgated pursuant to those laws;
           
             f)   The autonomous technology does not make inoperative any 
               Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for the vehicle's 
               model year and all other applicable safety standards and 
               performance requirements set forth in state and federal law 
               and the regulations promulgated pursuant to those laws;

             g)   The autonomous vehicle has a separate mechanism, in 
               addition to and separate from any other mechanism required 
               by law, to capture and store the autonomous technology 
               sensor data for at least thirty seconds before a collision 
               occurs between the autonomous vehicle and another vehicle, 
               object, or natural person while the vehicle is operating in 
               autonomous mode.  The autonomous technology sensor data 
               must be captured and stored in a read-only format by the 
               mechanism so that the data is retained until extracted from 
               the mechanism by an external device capable of downloading 
               and storing the data. Such data must be preserved for three 
               years after the date of the collision.  









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          9)Prohibits an autonomous vehicle from being operated on public 
            roads, other than by manufacturers' representatives for 
            testing purposes, unless the manufacturer first submits an 
            application to DMV that contains, at a minimum, a 
            certification by the manufacturer that the autonomous 
            technology meets all of the required capabilities described 
            above; that the manufacturer has tested the autonomous 
            technology on public roads and complies with any DMV testing 
            standards; and that the manufacturer will maintain a surety 
            bond, or proof of self-insurance, in an amount of $5 million 
            per DMV regulations.  

          10)Requires DMV, prior to January 1, 2014, to adopt regulations 
            setting forth requirements for the submission and approval of 
            an application to operate an autonomous vehicle and to hold 
            public hearings on the adoption of any regulation applicable 
            to the operation of an autonomous vehicle without the presence 
            of a driver inside the vehicle.  

          11)Requires the regulations to include any testing standards, in 
            addition to those established by, developed by the Department 
            of the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the Institute of 
            Transportation Studies at the University of California, or any 
            other entity chosen by the DMV that has expertise in 
            automotive technology, automotive safety, and autonomous 
            system design, that DMV approves and concludes are necessary 
            to ensure the safe operation of autonomous vehicles on public 
            roads.  

          12)Allows DMV to establish additional requirements by the 
            adoption of regulations, which it determines, in consultation 
            with the CHP, are necessary to ensure the safe operation of 
            autonomous vehicles on public roads, including regulations 
            regarding the number of deployments of autonomous vehicles on 
            public roads.  

          13)Requires DMV to approve an application submitted by a 
            manufacturer upon verification that the manufacturer has 
            submitted test results demonstrating that the autonomous 
            vehicles are safe to operate on public roads.  

          14)Specifies, if the application seeks approval for autonomous 
            vehicles capable of operating without the presence of a driver 
            inside the vehicle, that the department may impose additional 








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            requirements it deems necessary to ensure the safe operation 
            of those vehicles, and may require the presence of a driver in 
            the driver's seat of the vehicle if it determines, based on 
            its review of the testing conducted by the manufacturer, that 
            such a requirement is necessary to ensure the safe operation 
            of those vehicles on public roads.  

          15)Requires DMV to notify the Legislature of the receipt of an 
            application from a manufacturer seeking approval to operate an 
            autonomous vehicle capable of operating without the presence 
            of a driver inside the vehicle and approval of the 
            application.  Approval of the application shall be effective 
            no sooner than 180 days after the date the application is 
            submitted.  

          16)Allows DMV to establish additional requirements by rule which 
            it determines, in consultation with the CHP, are necessary to 
            ensure the safe operation of autonomous vehicles on public 
            roads.  

          17)Provides that this bill does not limit or expand the existing 
            authority to operate autonomous vehicles on public roads, 
            until 120 days after DMV adopts those regulations.  

          18)Provides that federal regulations promulgated by the National 
            Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will supersede this 
            bill's provisions when found to be in conflict with them.  

          19)Requires the manufacturer of autonomous technology installed 
            on a vehicle to provide a written disclosure to the purchaser 
            of an autonomous vehicle that describes what information is 
            collected by the autonomous technology equipped on the 
            vehicle.  

          20)Allows DMV to promulgate regulations to assess a fee upon 
            manufacturers that submit applications to operate autonomous 
            vehicles on public roads in an amount necessary to recover all 
            the costs it reasonably incurs.  

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Defines a vehicle as "a device by which any person or property 
            may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a 
            device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively 








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            upon stationary rails or tracks."  

          2)Provides numerous rules governing the operation of vehicles on 
            the state's public and private roads but does not, however, 
            require that a person drive the vehicle.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee, one-time costs of an unknown amount, but likely in 
          excess of $150,000 in 2012-13, to DMV to adopt regulations via a 
          public process and a one-time cost of an unknown amount, but 
          likely in the tens of thousands of dollars in 2012-13, to the 
          CHP to consult with DMV on regulatory development.  
            
           COMMENTS  :  The author notes that despite the many safety 
          improvements to the automobile since its invention, auto 
          accidents remain a leading cause of death.  The Centers for 
          Disease Control (CDC) reports that motor vehicle crashes are the 
          leading cause of death among people five through 34 years old.  
          In 2009, more than 2.3 million adult drivers and passengers were 
          treated in emergency rooms as the result of being injured in 
          motor vehicle crashes nationwide.  Additionally, according to 
          NHTSA, in 2010, a total of 32,885 people died in the United 
          States in car accidents.  More than 2,700 of these traffic 
          fatalities were in California.  Car accidents also result in a 
          significant economic cost.  A 2005 CDC report found that the 
          lifetime cost of crash-related deaths and injuries among drivers 
          and passengers was $70 billion.  

          The author points out that the vast majority of traffic 
          fatalities and injuries are due to human error, noting that a 
          2006 U.S. Department of Transportation study found that some 
          form of driver error occurred in nearly 80% of car accidents.  
          The author asserts that through the use of computers, sensors 
          and other systems, an autonomous vehicle is capable of analyzing 
          the driving environment more quickly and operating a vehicle 
          more safely than a human being.  And, as supporters point out, 
          driverless vehicles hold the promise of tremendous mobility 
          opportunities for individuals whose physical conditions render 
          them unable to drive themselves.  

          This bill is intended to enable California to join several other 
          states in seeking safe testing and operational standards for 
          autonomous vehicles.  Last year, the State of Nevada enacted a 
          similar bill into law.  (The Nevada DMV recently issued to 








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          Google the first license in that state to test autonomous 
          vehicles.)  In addition, Florida recently passed legislation and 
          Hawaii, Oklahoma, and Arizona are all currently considering 
          legislation regarding autonomous vehicles.   The author and 
          supporters note that as a global technology leader, California 
          is uniquely positioned to be the leader in the deployment of 
          autonomous technology and the manufacture of autonomous 
          vehicles.  He states that this technology will not only save 
          lives, it will create jobs.  


          The federal government has yet to regulate autonomous vehicles 
          in any fashion.  NHTSA, the entity responsible for developing 
          Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, has yet to initiate a 
          process to develop standards for autonomous vehicle technology, 
          and even once it does so, it likely will take several years to 
          finalize those standards.  It is not uncommon, however, for 
          federal standards to lag innovation in the auto industry and for 
          manufacturers to add safety improvements to vehicles prior to 
          the development of applicable standards.  


          Clearly, technology in this area is advancing dramatically and 
          it is logical and desirable that California, home to many of the 
          world's technology giants, should be in the vanguard of the 
          development of autonomous vehicles.  But the move to driverless 
          automotive transportation cannot be embarked upon without 
          careful consideration.  The current version of this bill 
          represents a sincere attempt by the author and supporters to 
          meet a variety of concerns and to balance numerous overlapping 
          interests.  There are, however, a number of issues that remain 
          controversial.  


          First, automobile makers fear that when this technology is added 
          on to the vehicles they have designed for use by human 
          operators, they may be drawn into liability litigation upon an 
          accident caused by the failure of that after-market equipment or 
          of its installation rather than due to any inherent safety 
          problem with the vehicle itself.  Although the author asserts 
          that existing tort law and case law absolve them of any 
          liability in such instances, the automakers understandably 
          desire explicit language in the bill to make this clear.  









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          Secondly, although this bill requires disclosure to autonomous 
          technology purchases of the data-collection capabilities of the 
          equipment, privacy advocates are troubled by the ability of this 
          technology to collect without restriction large amounts of data 
          and instead believe that data collection should be limited to 
          only that data that is necessary for the operation of the 
          vehicle and that such data not be retained any longer than is 
          necessary for the operation of the vehicle - unless the vehicle 
          owner provides informed opt-in consent for such collection.  


          Finally, some observers wonder if this bill is premature in 
          providing a mechanism that potentially allows driverless 
          operation, rather than waiting to pursue such statutory 
          authorization at such time as extensive on-road experience 
          indicates it is timely to do so.  



           Analysis Prepared by  :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 


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