• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, February 10, 2016

That’s a computer in the driver’s seat.

The U.S. government has told Google that its system for piloting a self-driving car can be considered the actual driver of the car.

Google had asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to interpret a number of provisions in the federal motor vehicle safety standards as they apply to Google’s design for motor vehicles that it’s developing and testing.

Google stated that its self-driving car has “no need for a human driver.”

The NHTSA agreed, and stated that Google’s self-driving system “will not have a driver in the traditional sense that vehicles have had drivers during the last more than 100 years.”

In a lengthy letter to Google, which reads like a government document, NHTSA granted several of the requests by interpreting them against current safety regulations. Part of the letter states:

So the way Google describes the vehicle, NHTSA does not see it as practical for a human to take over the actual driving of it.

To say there are challenging issues ahead, along with potential legal liabilities, would be the understatement of the year.

And the Google requests to the NHTSA are complex.

For example, if a computer is determined to be the driver, Google says that allowing human occupants to affect the operation of the vehicle, such as operating lamps or turn signals that otherwise would be controlled by the car system, could be detrimental to safety.

The computer-driven car also doesn’t technically need break or gas pedals, but they are part of current vehicle safety requirements.

Google is asking how NHTSA would rule on certifying a car without conventional driver controls and interfaces, such as a steering wheel, gas pedal and turn signals.

And as an aside, I guess the vehicle won’t be referred to as a driverless car, since a computer will officially be the driver.

And that driver won’t wear a seatbelt.

Wonder how they’ll get around that one!