The U.S. auto giant GM’s self-driving technology unit Cruise submitted a petition to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in February 2022, requesting permission to deploy up to 2,500 unmanned self-driving cars per year, which don’t have steering wheels, mirrors, turn signals, or windshield wipers and other NHTSA’s Acting Administrator Ann Carlson said on Wednesday that the agency will make a decision on the petition in the coming weeks.
Carlson said, “The central question is whether cars driven by computers rather than humans need to comply with safety standards associated with human drivers: requirements for mirrors, sun visors, windshield wipers, etc.” Cruise declined to comment.
Cruise currently offers limited service in San Francisco, using a small fleet of Chevrolet Bolt cars fitted with driverless technology. Cruise wants to deploy its Origin cars, which have subway-like doors and no steering wheel.
GM petitioned the NHTSA in 2018 to allow a Chevrolet Bolt-based car without a steering wheel or brake pedal on U.S. roads. In 2020, GM withdrew the petition after the agency took no action.
In December 2021, NHTSA opened a formal safety investigation into Cruise vehicles with self-driving systems following two reports of injuries from rear-end crashes.NHTSA said Cruise’s vehicles “may brake inappropriately hard or stop. “
