United States vehicle safety regulators have said the artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law, an important step toward winning approval for autonomous vehicles on the roads.<br />The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Google of its decision in a previously unreported Feb. 4 letter to the company posted on the agency’s website this week.<br />Google’s self-driving car unit on Nov. 12 submitted a proposed design for a self-driving car that has “no need for a human driver,” the letter said.<br />If the car’s artificial intelligence is considered the driver for legal purposes, then it clears the way for automakers to design vehicle systems that communicate directly with the vehicle’s artificial pilot.
