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Comment by beambot | Hacker News Reader

Want to help? Forget subsidies and test programs. Just pass sweeping national legislation (eg. tie state programs to federal incentives) that makes roads autonomous car friendly and that don't pander to "jobs, jobs, jobs." Otherwise, states (like California) are going to make unfriendly laws, like the recent DMV draft proposal:

> At issue is the requirement that DMV-certified “autonomous vehicle operators” are “required to be present inside the vehicle and be capable of taking control in the event of a technology failure or other emergency.” In other words, driverless cars will not be allowed on California roads for the foreseeable future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2015/12/18/california-...

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The Executive can't pass laws, that's the job of Congress. Good luck with today's type of legislative bodies, too much political posturing and not enough common sense laws. Getting Congress to agree on anything is like herding cats. Actually herding cats is more doable with practice :/

Executive Orders. If they're going to abuse them for evil (my view; YMMV), then they might as well use them for some good too.

Executive may not be able to pass laws, but they do control the flow of $$ in the DOT.

But how do you reconcile that with the public fear of losing jobs due to the increase in automation? I think driverless cars represent in a big way due to the prevalence of truck driving as a profession in the US; not saying they can't be reconciled, just flagging it as an issue.

Truck driver demographics don't line up with democratic voters.

Besides that, rural & poor always lose in any federal policy decision.

It is neither fair nor accurate to assume that someone with a CDL necessarily lives in a rural area or is poor, especially the latter.

I didn't say that.

The easiest / obvious automation candidate is long haul/overnight interstate trucking. That's a shitty, hard job with high turnover that pays well. It absolutely trends that way.

I grew up in farm country and saw it firsthand... all of the farm families and blue collar folks with marginal educations got into construction or drove trucks. Some do construction in the summer and driving in the winter. The alternative is a much lower paying job & poverty.

The executive branch can move money around, but it can't pass laws without the legislative branch, and 2016 is going to be a really bad year to try and pass a law.

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