Self-Driving Vehicles Progress Faster Than Rules of Road

The world has moved quickly from wonder at the idea of driverless cars to impatient expectation. The Cadillac SRX zipping around a test track in suburban Detroit is flashing a sign: Not so fast. The car can pilot itself at highway speed while the person in the driver’s seat eats a hamburger.Yet the first versions of General Motors Co. autonomous vehicles, due out by 2020, will drive themselves only on controlled-access highways, such as an interstate. Don’t count on them to avoid accidents on their own; it will be up to a licensed driver behind the wheel to avoid the deer running out from the roadside. The reasons are parts technological, regulatory and psychological. “The technology’s probably doable, but how do we implement it, how do we regulate it and how do we standardize it?” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with auto researcher Edmunds.com, based in Santa Monica, California, in an interview. What’s more, “there are certain people who want to be in control and they don’t want driving taken away from them.”