US agency proposes to streamline self-driving car exemption reviews

(Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday proposed a new process to streamline reviews of exemptions filed by automakers seeking to deploy self-driving vehicles without required human controls like steering wheels or brake pedals. 

NHTSA has authority to grant petitions to allow up to 2,500 number of vehicles per manufacturer to operate on U.S. roads without required human controls but the agency has spent years reviewing several petitions without taking action. Efforts in Congress to make it easier to deploy vehicles on U.S. roads without human controls have been stymied for years.