Top executives from Tesla and Waymo testified before a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday, defending the safety of their autonomous vehicles amid recent incidents and calls for federal regulations. Lawmakers expressed bipartisan support for uniform national standards to address the current patchwork of state laws governing self-driving cars. Concerns over liability, remote operations, and competition from China also dominated the discussion.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on Wednesday to examine the safety and regulation of autonomous vehicles, as companies like Tesla and Waymo expand robotaxi services in U.S. cities. Executives Mauricio Peña, Waymo's chief safety officer, and Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of vehicle engineering, emphasized that their systems are safer than human drivers and urged Congress to establish federal rules to foster innovation and prevent China from leading the industry. Currently, about half of U.S. states have varying laws on self-driving cars, creating regulatory inconsistencies that lawmakers seek to resolve through national legislation. Around 40,000 people die annually in U.S. vehicle incidents, and Moravy argued that autonomous driving could reduce this to zero, as the technology 'doesn't sleep, doesn't blink, and doesn't get tired.' Recent incidents drew scrutiny: the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Waymo robotaxis in Austin, Texas, for failing to yield to school buses last month, deemed 'obviously unacceptable' by committee chair Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Earlier this month in Santa Monica, California, a Waymo vehicle struck a child who darted out, causing minor injuries; Peña stated the system responded faster than an attentive human driver would have. Waymo issued a software update in November but has faced ongoing violations. A report indicated Tesla's vehicles had crash rates worse than human drivers last year, though the company did not comment. Peña highlighted Waymo's data over 100 million miles, showing vehicles 10 times less likely to cause serious injuries and 12 times less likely to injure pedestrians compared to humans in operating cities. Both executives affirmed their companies would accept liability for software or hardware failures, similar to human drivers. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the ranking member, stressed the need for guardrails, criticizing Tesla's marketing of supervised systems as 'Autopilot.' Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) raised concerns about Waymo's remote operators, some based in the Philippines, questioning latency, cybersecurity, and offshoring. He also faulted Tesla for lacking geographic limits on its features. Lawmakers like Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) called for transparency and limits on operations, with proposed bills including the AV Safety Data Act for mandatory reporting and the Stay in Your Lane Act to define safe operating domains. Independent expert Bryant Walker Smith urged proactive assessment of companies' trustworthiness, noting no truly 'self-driving' cars exist yet.
