Where Self-Driving Cars Go to Learn

Where Self-Driving Cars Go to Learn
“We needed our message to Uber, Lyft and other entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley to be
that Arizona was open to new ideas.” If the state had a slogan, he added, it would include the words “open for business.”
Mr. Ducey fired the regulator who hatched the idea of going after ride-hailing drivers
and shut down the entire agency, the Department of Weights and Measures.
Mr. Ducey also set up a “Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee” comprised of transportation, public safety, insurance
and other regulators to advise “how best to advance the testing and operation of self-driving vehicles on public roads.” The group was not intended to create any new rules.
In March, Arizona experienced its first crash involving a driverless car, when a human-driven
vehicle collided with a self-driving Uber in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe.
The state insurance regulator, for example, said he would wait for the insurance industry to guide regulators on liability
policies for driverless cars, amid questions about who is responsible in a crash if the car isn’t driven by a human.
PHOENIX — Three weeks into his new job as Arizona’s governor, Doug Ducey made a move
that won over Silicon Valley and paved the way for his state to become a driverless car utopia.
Over the past two years, Arizona deliberately cultivated a rules-free environment for driverless cars, unlike dozens of other states
that have enacted autonomous vehicle regulations over safety, taxes and insurance.