U.S. regulators believe that the Tesla autopilot crash should not slow the deployment of self-driving technology.
Last Friday the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Mark Rosekind, spoke about the auto industry at a conference in Detroit. He stated that car makers “cannot wait for perfect” when it comes to developing and deploying self-driving car technology.
This is despite a recent fatality that occurred while a driver was using Tesla’s autopilot technology, which Rosekind declined to comment on. However, he did note that “We should be desperate for anything we can find to save peoples’ lives”, in relation to a recent increase in U.S. car accidents.
According to WIRED Media, Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx made a statement that “autonomous doesn’t mean perfect,” but “we need industry to take the safety aspects of this very seriously”.
He also suggested that new safety guidelines, including “pre-market approval steps” would help “clear lines of responsibility between industry, government and consumers”.