The United States is considering removing steering wheel requirements for self-driving cars

If the head of the country’s auto safety watchdog has his way, self-driving cars won’t need brake pads or steering wheels in the near future.

in Interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Jonathan Morrison said Thursday that he supports innovation in self-driving vehicles, including eliminating some currently mandated features.

“If you are developing a vehicle designed to never be driven by a human operator, does it make sense to need manual control of the vehicle?” Morrison said. “I think the answer is pretty clear there.”

Some self-driving cars, such as models for ride-sharing fleets from companies like Uber and Tesla, are already heading in this direction, because they are not designed for human driving. Some of them, like the cars he uses Waymocan be taken over by human drivers remotely.

However, removing the brake pedals and steering wheels may mean that a human cannot take over if the self-driving car stalls or a dangerous situation arises that requires intervention.

Self-driving vehicle makers are urging action on changing requirements for self-driving cars Since at least 2019. In 2022, N.H.T.S.A Revised rules For some types of autonomous vehicles on how to design them. Morrison’s comments Recent action on brake pad requirements Suggest it’s happening now.

Morrison said NHTSA is responsible for monitoring the industry, but it does not want to stand in the way of progress.

“The promise of these technologies is truly undeniable,” he said. “We want to see it succeed, and we want to see it develop. However, it has to be done right.”

Other NHTSA concerns about self-driving cars

And in the interview, Morrison also Discuss a letter sent to autonomous car makers About accidents in which those vehicles stopped or were slow to move off the road Emergency responders.

These incidents are rare, Morrison said, “but each one of these circumstances goes further.”

He also answered questions about whether his agency had concerns about the spread of Chinese lidar sensor technology, which it uses almost 90% of self-driving cars worldwide. CNBC recently investigated The dangers of this type of technology, largely manufactured in China.

Morrison did not specifically mention any action NHTSA was taking on that, but said: “I think this is an area of ​​concern across the government.”