New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that the state is accepting applications from companies to test autonomous cars on public roads.
Image credit: Michael Nagle/Getty Images
The new legislation offers a year-long program that expires on 1 April 2018, and the application can be found here. You have to be an “autonomous vehicle technology” manufacturer or someone working in conjunction with a manufacturer to apply. The cars have to comply with all federal standards as well as New York State inspection standards and have a $US5 million ($7 million) insurance policy, because that is the minimum price of anything in New York. You must tell the state where and when you’ll be testing your car and how many miles you intend on using it on.
I’m assuming that this also means public roads in Manhattan because, oh buddy, is this the place to test out a self-driving car. Look, I don’t care how much testing you do in fantasy-land Palo Alto, California — if you want to play the boss level of self-driving cars on American roads, you come here.
Have you seen the size of the street parking spots in Palo Alto? They’re enormous! And the other drivers there will, like, let you in at the last minute if you make a mistake.
See how well your tech does on FDR Drive during a heavy rainstorm and all NYC drivers simultaneously forget how to drive. Have your self-driving car drop someone off at JFK and take the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to get there. Don’t be a cop out and take Atlantic Avenue.
Roar into battle against potholes that could cripple a moose and other drivers who will actively shut you out or use their cars to move you out of their way.
Because this is New York City. If your car can drive here, it can drive anywhere (in the United States).
via The Verge