US federal vehicle safety organizations have paved the way for fully driverless vehicles that do not include manual controls such as steering or pedals.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the final rules removing strict restrictions on motorized and self-driving vehicles that needed such controls to drive on the roads.
The new rule emphasizes that such cars "must continue to provide the same high levels of occupant protection as existing passenger cars even without manual controls.
The 155-page "first of its kind" law allows companies to produce self-driving vehicles without manual controls as long as they meet other safety regulations.
Existing self-driving cars, which operate in small numbers in the United States today, usually include hand tools such as steering wheels for back-up safety drivers on board to meet federal safety standards.
"During the 2020s, ensuring that safety standards are kept pace with the development of automated driving and driver assistance systems will be an important part of the safety requirements," Transportation Minister Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
He added, "This new rule is an important step, as it sets strong safety standards for vehicles equipped with the Automated Driving System (ADS).
In a published copy of the law - and signed by Stephen S. Cliff, deputy director of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - the agency wrote that it "sought to make clear that a manufacturer of vehicles equipped with a self-driving system must continue to apply occupant protection standards to its vehicles even if they are not established It has manual steering controls.
The law - which was first proposed in March 2020 - comes a month after General Motors and its self-driving unit Cruise asked the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for permission to produce an autonomous vehicle without manual controls called "Cruise". Cruise Origin.
General Motors and Cruise previously said they plan to start production of the Origin in early 2023.
General Motors and Cruise are among the 30 companies or organizations allowed to test automated or self-driving vehicles on US roads, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, along with Alphabet's Waymo. ) (the parent company of Google) - is among the leading companies in the field of self-driving vehicles.