Robot kid transporters? Lawmakers put brakes on rules for minors in self-driving cars

A Google self-driving car goes on a test drive near the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., on May 13, 2014. | Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — While the coming wave of autonomous vehicles for hire could create new options for harried parents overwhelmed by kid-schlepping responsibilities, Utah lawmakers on Tuesday put the brakes on a proposal to set ground rules for unaccompanied minors in self-driving cars.

The proposal from House Minority Caucus Manager Karen Kwan, D-Murray, is looking to create some basic “guardrail” stipulations for putting children under 18 into self-driving cars operated by rideshare companies that, while not currently operating in Utah, are already in service in other parts of the country.

Kwan said her bill, HB414, would require operators of autonomous vehicles for hire to have signed parental waivers and emergency contact information for riders ages 8-16 and further, the vehicles must meet safety requirements and have onboard monitoring capabilities as well as a some sort of emergency communication system.

While members of the House Transportation Committee who heard Kwan present her proposal Tuesday were mostly supportive of the effort, a few committee members felt the proposal could use further refinement and voiced concerns about some details.

Those concerns included questions about how the rules would be monitored and enforced, how to keep tech-savvy teenagers from gaming the system, how far lawmakers should go in directing what equipment a private company should be required to provide in a vehicle and whether or not the rules should be applied to public transportation systems, which may also be utilizing self-driving vehicles in the not-too-distant future.

Kwan said companies like Uber, Lyft, Waymo and others are testing, and in some cases have already deployed, self-driving cars for hire in some U.S. cities.

Committee members voted 8-3 to hold the bill, giving Kwan time to make some revisions before possibly considering the proposal again at a meeting later this week.

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