Starting on January 1, 2023, companies testing autonomous vehicles in Washington will be required to carry liability insurance with a minimum coverage of $5 million, a significant increase from the state's minimum requirement of $25,000 for human drivers. This means that the insurance requirement for companies testing autonomous vehicles is 200 times higher than the minimum requirement for regular drivers.
Under the new legislation, companies conducting, testing, or operating autonomous vehicles in Washington will be required to self-certify that their vehicles meet state requirements before they can be used on the roads. This self-certification process will help to ensure that autonomous vehicles operating in the state are compliant with all applicable regulations.
Currently, only three companies have completed the self-certification process required by the new legislation for testing autonomous vehicles in Washington: NVIDIA, Waymo (owned by Google), and Zoox (purchased by Amazon in 2020). Zoox, in particular, has chosen to test its autonomous vehicles in the rainy conditions of Seattle.
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor, and it's the exact same principle for our technology," said Kai Wang, Zoox's Director of Prediction. "The challenges of Seattle will let us hone our software stack and ultimately improve the behavior of our vehicles."
Standardized certification for autonomous driving vehicles is important because it helps to ensure that these vehicles meet certain safety and performance standards. This helps to reduce the risk of accidents or other issues on the road, and can also improve public trust in the technology. By requiring companies to self-certify that their vehicles meet certain standards, regulators can better ensure that autonomous vehicles are safe and reliable for use on public roads.
Source: Carscoops
