Autonomous vehicle testing may be coming to Israel
New legislation promoted by Transportation Minister Miri Regev, could finally allow autonomous vehicle testing without a human driver being present in the vehicle during testing.
By DANIEL NISINMANMiri Regev(photo credit: REUTERS)
The future is just one voice command away, if it's up to Transportation Minister Miri Regev who is promoting, according toa statement by the Transportation Ministry, new legislation that would allow companies to conduct autonomous vehicle testing in Israel.Currently, autonomous vehicle testing is carried out in Israel when a human driver is present in the vehicle. The new proposed legislation aims to change that by eliminating the need for a human driver to be present during the tests.The new move, if approved, could open the floodgates for many companies in the field. Autonomous vehicles would be used with a special application, allowing customers to order and pay the driving fare.Regev stressed that Israel is at the forefront of autonomous transportation technology and that the new legislation would put Israel among other leading nations in the field.The future legislation would expand the Transportation Ministry's authority to set the conditions for which autonomous vehicle experiments can be carried out, likely leading to the opening of R&D centers dedicated to the enterprise.The initial proposal will be published within 90 days, after a team, led by Transportation Ministry director-general Ofer Malka, will complete its work on the first draft.
