The NHTSA just now allows self-driving vehicles to operate without manual controls under the new and updated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Although autonomous vehicles are probably a couple of years away from going on sale in the mainstream market, This new rule allows automakers to remove the steering wheel and pedals from their cars.

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “Through the 2020s, an important part of the safety mission will be to ensure safety standards keep pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems, This new rule is an important step, establishing robust safety standards for [Automated Driving Systems]-equipped vehicles.”

Fully autonomous, level five cars are not on the market, but Teslas are at level two. Autonomy. Volkswagen is making a Level 4 version of their ID.Buzz.EV well pilot projects for Robo taxis and self-driving shuttles are underway. Cadillac showed off their totally autonomous concept car at CES which really shows the interest of many different car companies out there to equip cars with ADS and deploy them. This new rule will help carmakers bring out the best in them.

Although NHTSA did acknowledge uncertainty that they had about the development and deployment of these vehicles equipped with Automated Driving Systems, They say that they believe it is appropriate to finalize this action at this time in anticipation of emerging ADS vehicle designs that NHTSA has seen in prototype form.