Experts tell U.S. to slow down on self-driving cars

Fully self-driving cars may be the future of the automotive industry, but they aren’t yet up to the demands of real-world driving, several people told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during a public meeting Friday.

A slower, more deliberative approach may be needed instead of the agency’s rapid timetable for producing guidance for deploying the vehicles, according to an auto industry trade association. In January, the federal agency announced that it would begin work on writing guidance for deploying the vehicles. Officials have promised to complete that guidance by July.

There are risks to using guidance to deviate from the government’s traditional process of issuing regulations and standards, Paul Scullion, safety manager at the Association of Global Automakers, told the meeting hosted by NHTSA.