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Shoot Your Shot: US State Offers $1 Million Covid Vaccine Lottery

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The money will come from an existing federal fund set up to deal with the pandemic. (File)
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Washington, United States:
As US officials scramble to convince citizens to get vaccinated against Covid-19, one state is putting its money where its mouth is -- offering millions in lottery prizes for those who have received an injection.
Ohio governor Mike DeWine tweeted Wednesday that his state will give a $1 million prize away every week for five weeks in a lottery open to residents over the age of 18 who have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
"I know that some may say, 'DeWine, you're crazy! This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money,'" he tweeted.
"But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic -- when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it -- is a life lost to COVID-19," the Republican governor continued.
The first winner will be announced on May 26. After that, a new winner will be drawn each Wednesday for five weeks, for the same amount each time, DeWine said.
The state is also offering a lottery for vaccinated under-17-year-olds -- instead of $1 million, they could win a full four-year scholarship to one of Ohio's state universities, a valuable prize in a country where higher education is disproportionately expensive.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday extended approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to adolescents ages 12 to 15.
The money will come from an existing federal fund set up to deal with the pandemic.
The United States initially saw a rush for people to receive the vaccine, and roughly 58.7 percent of US adults have received at least one shot.
However, the number of daily doses being administered is now declining, with many of those who have not yet been vaccinated hesitant to do so.
A variety of incentives are being offered across the country to convince the undecided, including beer, donuts or tickets to sporting events.
This month, Maryland announced that state employees would receive $100 if they were vaccinated. In West Virginia, the same amount is being offered as a savings bonus to 16-35 year olds, an age group more reluctant to vaccinate.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/shoot-your-shot-us-state-offers-1-million-covid-vaccine-lottery-2440624">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/shoot-your-shot-us-state-offers-1-million-covid-vaccine-lottery-2440624</a>

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The money will come from an existing federal fund set up to deal with the pandemic. (File) Washington, United States: As US officials s...

First Rocket Warning In Northern Israel In Latest Hostilities

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="First Rocket Warning In Northern Israel In Latest Hostilities" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-05/e7g3c7o_-israeli-air-strikes-afp-650_625x300_13_May_21.jpg" title="First Rocket Warning In Northern Israel In Latest Hostilities" /></div>
Fire billows from Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Hamas, on May 13, 2021.
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Jerusalem:
Israel's army on Thursday said it had received a rocket warning in the north of the country, the first time the alert has been given there since hostilities soared between Israel and Palestinians earlier this week.
The approximately 1,500 rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas militants since Monday had so far set off warnings in southern and central Israel, but not in the north, the army said.
However in the small hours of Thursday morning, alarms not only sounded in the economic capital Tel Aviv in the middle of the country -- where residents rushed to shelters -- but also in Jezreel Valley in the north.
Since hostilities escalated on Monday evening, Hamas has fired around 1,500 rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory, according to the latest estimate by Israel's army.
The launch of around 350 rockets had failed, while hundreds more were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system, the army said.
Seven people in Israel have been killed by the onslaught, including a six-year-old and a soldier.
Israel's army continued carrying out air strikes on Gaza early Thursday morning, according to an AFP journalist.
The Palestinian health ministry said the death count from the violence in the territory since Monday has risen to 67 fatalities and 388 injured.em, the army said.
Seven people in Israel have been killed by the onslaught, including a six-year-old and a soldier.
Israel's army continued carrying out air strikes on Gaza early Thursday morning, according to an AFP journalist.
The Palestinian health ministry said the death count from the violence in the territory since Monday has risen to 67 fatalities and 388 injured.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/first-rocket-warning-in-northern-israel-in-latest-hostilities-2440614">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/first-rocket-warning-in-northern-israel-in-latest-hostilities-2440614</a>

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Fire billows from Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Hamas, on May 13, 2021. Jerusalem: Israel's army on Thur...

Biden Signs Cybersecurity Executive Order After Colonial Pipeline Attack

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The pipeline cyberattack is the latest in a string of high profile cyber incidents (File)
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U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that advances federal cybersecurity capabilities and encourages improvements in digital security standards across the private sector which has been hit by a spate of high-profile cyber attacks.
The executive order establishes a series of initiatives designed to better equip federal agencies with cybersecurity tools. It follows a cyberattack against the Colonial Pipeline that caused some internal computer systems to be disabled with ransomware. This led Colonial to shut the pipeline, triggering fuel shortages and panic buying in the southeastern United States.
On Wednesday, Atlanta-based Colonial said it "initiated the restart of pipeline operations at 5 p.m. ET."
The order also requires that software companies selling to the government maintain certain cybersecurity standards in their products and report whether they themselves have been compromised by hackers. The requirement was first reported by Reuters in March.
A senior administration official described the executive order as having a "very significant" impact on the government's ability to detect and respond to hacking incidents.
The pipeline cyberattack is the latest in a string of high profile cyber incidents against U.S. companies and government agencies over the last six months.
In December, a Russian supply chain hacking operation became public which burrowed into nine federal agencies. More recently, the government has been investigating a different hacking campaign with ties to China that affected five civilian agencies.
"It's hard to learn from each incident and ensure that broadly government and companies have information to protect themselves," said the official. "So, we have pushed the authority as far as we could and said anybody doing business with the US government will have to share incidents , so that we can use that information to protect Americans."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/biden-signs-cybersecurity-executive-order-after-colonial-pipeline-attack-2440603">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/biden-signs-cybersecurity-executive-order-after-colonial-pipeline-attack-2440603</a>

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The pipeline cyberattack is the latest in a string of high profile cyber incidents (File) U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive o...

US Safety Agency Opens Probe Of Tesla Fatal Crash In California

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NHTSA said it previously had opened 28 special investigations into Tesla crashes, with 24 pending.
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Washington:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) said on Wednesday it is opening a safety probe into a fatal May 5 Tesla crash in California amid growing concerns about the automaker's driver assistance systems.
A Tesla crashed into an overturned truck on a highway near Fontana, California, killing the Tesla's driver and injuring the truck driver and a motorist who had stopped to help him, the California Highway Patrol said.
The highway patrol report did not say whether the Tesla was operating on Autopilot, its semi-autonomous driving system, when the crash occurred. The Mack truck had crashed and overturned five minutes earlier, blocking two lanes of the highway, the report said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NHTSA said it previously had opened 28 special investigations into Tesla crashes, with 24 pending.
Police in Texas last month said they believed an April 17 fatal crash near Houston occurred with no one in the driver's seat. A preliminary government report Monday said footage from the owner's home security cameras showed the owner entering the driver's seat and the passenger entering the front passenger seat.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-safety-agency-opens-probe-of-tesla-fatal-crash-in-california-2440602">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-safety-agency-opens-probe-of-tesla-fatal-crash-in-california-2440602</a>

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NHTSA said it previously had opened 28 special investigations into Tesla crashes, with 24 pending. Washington: The National Highway Tra...

European Union Countries Urged To Halt Non-Essential Travel From India

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="European Union Countries Urged To Halt Non-Essential Travel From India" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2019-05/tk4tpt5g_plane-generic_625x300_29_May_19.jpg" title="European Union Countries Urged To Halt Non-Essential Travel From India" /></div>
India's coronavirus death count crossed 250,000 on Wednesday. (Representational)
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Brussels:
The European Union's executive on Wednesday called on countries of the bloc to temporarily halt non-essential travel from India, to limit the spread of a COVID-19 variant.
The European Commission said its proposal followed the World Health Organisation's proposal on Monday to reclassify the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19 found in India as a "variant of concern", raising the alert from a "variant of interest".
EU countries should apply an "emergency brake" on non-essential travel from India, it said in a statement.
"It is important to limit to the strict minimum the categories of travellers that can travel from India for essential reasons and to subject those who may still travel from India to strict testing and quarantine arrangements," it added.
Last week the Commission proposed that the EU's 27 member states ease COVID-19 travel restrictions from June to allow foreign travellers from more countries to enter the bloc, while keeping the option to quickly restrict travel from countries where the health situation deteriorates sharply.
The member states have not yet adopted this recommendation but could individually opt to ban non-essential travel from India before it is adopted.
India's coronavirus death count crossed 250,000 on Wednesday in the deadliest 24 hours since the pandemic began and experts around the world have expressed concern the variant first identified there may be highly transmissible.
The European Commission said limited exemptions should apply to its proposed halt to travel from India, including to those travelling for "imperative family reasons" or EU citizens and long-term residents.
Those travellers should face additional health measures on arrival in the EU, such as strict testing or quarantine requirements, it said.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/european-union-countries-urged-to-halt-non-essential-travel-from-india-2440600">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/european-union-countries-urged-to-halt-non-essential-travel-from-india-2440600</a>

news world European Union Countries Urged To Halt Non-Essential Travel From India

India's coronavirus death count crossed 250,000 on Wednesday. (Representational) Brussels: The European Union's executive on We...

Tesla is casting a spotlight on the government’s struggle to keep up with self-driving cars

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Tesla’s Autopilot software, an advanced driver assistance feature, is in the news again. And not in a good way.
Over the weekend, <a href="https://jalopnik.com/another-video-shows-a-driver-abusing-tesla-autopilot-on-1846851450">a short video</a> of a person sitting in the back seat of a driverless Tesla operating on public roads in California caught the internet’s attention. The six-second video shows a man staring out the window from the back of the Tesla that’s driving down the road. There’s nobody in the driver’s seat. California Highway Patrol said it was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-highway-patrol-searching-man-seen-riding-back-seat-tesla-n1266944">searching</a> for the man behind the “unusual incident.” The man was <a href="https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/05/12/update-chp-announce-arrest-man-who-rode-back-seat-driverless-tesla-across-bay-bridge/">later arrested</a>.
This latest viral video may not even be the first time this particular person has <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/2021-05-Tesla-autopilot-driver-back-seat-Bay-Area-16160430.php">tried the stunt</a> and is especially concerning since two people died in <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/18/22390612/two-people-killed-fiery-tesla-crash-no-driver">a Tesla crash</a> in Texas last month. Following the crash, local authorities <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/business/tesla-fatal-crash-texas.html">suggested</a> that no one was in the driver’s seat, causing speculation that the vehicle was being operated through its driver assistance feature Autopilot, a claim that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-houston-crash-texas-autopilot-fsd-electric-vehicle-2021-4">Tesla CEO Elon Musk</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-elon-musk-houston-crash-texas-autopilot-fsd-electric-vehicle-2021-4">other executives at the company</a> disputed. A <a href="https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HWY21FH007-preliminary-report.pdf">preliminary report</a> released Monday by the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/autopilot-could-not-have-been-functioning-tesla-texas-crash-ntsb-2021-05-10/">National Transportation Safety Board</a> (NTSB) said that, in a test, Autopilot’s Autosteer feature was not available on that part of the road. The NTSB is continuing to research the accident, and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/19/tesla-faces-another-nhtsa-investigation-after-fatal-driverless-crash-in-texas.html">conducting its own investigation</a>.
Still, the event highlights the dangerous, ongoing confusion over Tesla’s autonomous driving capabilities and how people are using them. All new Tesla vehicles come with all the sensors and cameras the company says it needs to deliver autonomous driving features, though the technology is not quite the same as <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/04/who-will-win-the-self-driving-race-here-are-8-possibilities/">more elaborate setups you might see</a> in self-driving cars from companies like Waymo. In fact, Tesla drivers can buy <a href="https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot">both the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features as software upgrades</a>.
There even seems to be some confusion between Musk and Tesla over what the self-driving features can do. A newly published public records report shows Tesla officials saying that Elon Musk has been overpromising the autonomous abilities of Tesla cars. Musk said in January that <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/05/tesla-autopilot-director-contradicts-musks-self-driving-timeline/">he’s “extremely confident”</a> that Tesla cars will reach full autonomy by the end of this year. He’s made similar statements over the past five years.
Ongoing concerns about Tesla highlight how lawmakers and regulators are struggling to keep up with self-driving technology that’s showing up in cars that aren’t quite fully autonomous. While states <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/regulating-autonomous-vehicles.aspx">make their own rules</a> for the testing of self-driving vehicles, federal standards for commercially available vehicles are set by the NHTSA. The body can also exempt <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/11/21133389/house-energy-commerce-self-driving-car-hearing-bill-2020">a certain number of vehicles</a> from these standards for the purpose of testing self-driving cars.
But there’s still ongoing debate about how the government should approach the increasingly autonomous features popping up in our everyday cars. Now some members of Congress are pushing the Transportation Department to do more, and through new proposed legislation, lawmakers are broadening the agency’s role in order to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new features, like pedestrian avoidance and driver monitoring. Last week, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) proposed new legislation that would force the agency to study crash avoidance tech, following up on legislation <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-and-blumenthal-lead-reintroduction-of-four-auto-safety-bills-to-improve-recalls-enhance-defect-reporting-upgrade-seat-back-safety-and-prevent-distracted-driving">reintroduced this year</a> that would force companies with advanced driver assistance tech to monitor that drivers are actually paying attention.
But as long as car companies, like Tesla, continue to push out new, ever-more-autonomous features — without clear regulatory standards — people will be driving in a potentially dangerous gray zone.
While fully autonomous cars that don’t need a human driver behind the wheel are still in development, plenty of semi-autonomous features are already available in the vehicles that are on the road. These tools use different types of sensors to observe what’s happening on the road, and then employ sophisticated computing power to make decisions for the vehicle.
The transition to fully autonomous vehicles isn’t happening all at once. It’s happening gradually as individual features that require the driver to do less and less get rolled out. The <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/automated-vehicles-safety">NHTSA sorts autonomy</a> into six levels, where Level 0 has no autonomous features and Level 5 is fully autonomous and doesn’t require a driver.
“Right now, the automation systems that are on the road from companies such as Tesla, Mercedes, GM, and Volvo, are Level 2, meaning the car controls steering and speed on a well-marked highway, but a driver still has to supervise,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/17/18564501/self-driving-car-morals-safety-tesla-waymo">explained</a> Vox’s Emily Stewart in 2019. “By comparison, a Honda vehicle equipped with its ‘<a href="https://automobiles.honda.com/sensing">Sensing’</a> suite of technologies, including adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance, and emergency braking detection, is a Level 1.”
Sorting out and enforcing the dividing line between these various levels of autonomy has proven complicated and can give people a false sense of security in these cars’ capabilities. Tesla’s Autopilot feature, in particular, has been a source of confusion.
Autopilot allows the car to operate itself within a given lane, combining a cruise control feature and an auto-steering feature. In the recently published documents that showed the gap between what Elon Musk has said in public about Autopilot’s capabilities and what the feature can actually do, the California Department of Motor Vehicles said that “Tesla is currently at Level 2.” <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/10/elon-musk-says-every-new-tesla-can-drive/">Since at least 2016</a>, Musk has been saying that every new Tesla could drive itself, a claim he’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/05/tesla-autopilot-director-contradicts-musks-self-driving-timeline/">repeated many times</a>. Tesla officials have said privately that what Musk says about Autopilot and full self-driving capabilities for Tesla’s vehicles does not “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/7/22424592/tesla-elon-musk-autopilot-dmv-fsd-exaggeration?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4">match engineering reality</a>.” (Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, dropped the term “self-driving” <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/6/22216848/waymo-change-self-driving-autonomous-language-tesla">earlier this year</a> and committed to using “more deliberate language” in its marketing.)
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Autopilot currently requires drivers to pay attention and keep their hands on the steering wheel. But drivers can end up overrelying on the tech, and it appears some have figured out ways <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/autonomous-driving/cr-engineers-show-tesla-will-drive-with-no-one-in-drivers-seat/#:~:text=Consumer%20Reports%20engineers%20easily%20tricked,were%20repeated%20on%20public%20roads.">to avoid Tesla’s related safety features</a>. There have been multiple videos showing people riding alone in the back seat of Tesla vehicles, and people have been caught asleep at the wheel presumably <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/2021-05-Tesla-autopilot-driver-back-seat-Bay-Area-16160430.php">with Autopilot engaged</a>. There is also a growing list of <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-autopilot-self-driving-crash-california/">Autopilot-related crashes</a>.
At the same time, Tesla has moved to beef up Autopilot’s autonomous capabilities by adding <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/autonomous-driving/tesla-navigate-on-autopilot-automatic-lane-change-requires-significant-driver-intervention/">a feature for automatic lane changing</a> and <a href="https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-full-self-driving-beta-testers-being-rejected-inattention/">is now rolling out the full self-driving feature</a> in beta mode to a small group of drivers. The company promises to make its cars <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/autonomous-driving/tesla-full-self-driving-capability-review-falls-short-of-its-name/">fully autonomous</a> and plans a broad release later this year. But it’s not clear that Autopilot is entirely safe. The NHTSA is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/business/teslas-autopilot-safety-investigations.html">investigating 23 crashes that may have involved Tesla Autopilot</a>. Tesla, which dissolved its PR department last year, did not reply to Recode’s request for comment.
Federal agencies like the NHTSA are supposed to be taking the lead on setting standards for evaluating autonomous features. However, in April, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) <a href="https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2021_04_22%20Letter%20to%20NHTSA%20re%20Tesla%20Crash.pdf">urged</a> the agency to “develop recommendations for improving automated driving and driver assistance systems” and “implement policy changes that stop these preventable deaths from occurring.” They’re not alone; other members of Congress have also been thinking about creating new rules, like expanding the number of self-driving <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/us-senators-propose-relaxed-self-driving-safety-regulations-nhtsa/#:~:text=The%20bipartisan%20proposal%20would%20allow,NHTSA%20safety%20standards%20if%20passed.&text=A%20proposal%20by%20two%20US,t%20meet%20NHTSA%20safety%20standards.">exemptions the NHSTA can give</a>.
Even car manufacturers have <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2021/04/20/auto-industry-group-urges-update-federal-safety-tests/7300350002/">signed on</a> to the idea that the NHSTA could do more. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group that represents carmakers like Ford and General Motors, says that forward collision warnings, automatic braking, and lane assistance tech need to be evaluated by regulators and included in NHSTA’s new car rating system.
Lawmakers, safety advocates, and even representatives of the industry are demanding more discerning federal standards to govern autonomous features, including crash avoidance features and driver assistance tools built into cars that are already on the road. These critics are specifically calling for more research from the Transportation Department, a task they say is important even before fully self-driving cars are on the road.
“Before we get to autonomous technology that can do everything that people can do, there’s a real opportunity to introduce lifesaving technology into vehicles that people will still be driving,” said Jason Levine, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit focused on vehicle safety.
The NHTSA has created testing protocols for some features, like collision warnings and automatic emergency braking. It has also <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/29/2021-01150/framework-for-automated-driving-system-safety-extension-of-comment-perio">requested public comment</a> on what autonomous vehicle safety rules should be. But the agency has yet to create any <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-drives-autopilot-through-regulatory-grey-zone-2021-04-20/">national standards</a> for how well crash avoidance and driver assistance features ought to perform, according to Ensar Becic, an investigator for highway safety for the NTSB.
Still, more cars are being equipped with increasingly autonomous features. As automakers debut more and more advanced driver and safety features and inch toward more self-driving abilities, NHSTA has recommended more and more of these tools. But there’s also growing concern that the agency isn’t providing enough information about how well these tools should actually work.
“Manufacturers are out there advertising their different versions of this technology, without any true sense of oversight,” Levine added.
Now lawmakers think the NHTSA and the Transportation Department as a whole should have a role in more stringently evaluating this tech. Last month, Sens. Markey, Blumenthal, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) reintroduced the <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/safe_act.pdf">Stay Aware for Everyone Act</a>, which would require the Department of Transportation to look at how driver assistance tools, like Tesla’s Autopilot, are impacting driver disengagement and distraction, and would mandate that companies institute driver monitoring tools to make sure drivers are paying attention to the road.
“With NHTSA often slow to act and auto manufacturers rushing to put new autonomous features in cars, this bill and other congressional action that puts public and driver safety first is necessary,” Blumenthal told Recode. He’s also urging President Joe Biden to fill the vacancy for NHTSA administrator to “ensure our country’s top auto safety agency has the leadership needed as this new technology rapidly advances.”
Others also want a better system for regulating how well these autonomous features perform. The legislation Rush, the Democratic representative from Illinois, introduced last week with his Republican co-sponsor Larry Bucshon (R-IN) would order Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to commission a study on the safety of crash avoidance features and how well these systems identify pedestrians and cyclists with different skin tones. The bill, called the Crash Avoidance System Evaluation Act, comes after research from <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/3/5/18251924/self-driving-car-racial-bias-study-autonomous-vehicle-dark-skin">the Georgia Institute of Technology</a> finding that people with darker skin tones are less accurately detected by technology that could be used in self-driving cars.
“We certainly do not want to unleash vehicles on our nation’s streets and highways that can’t guarantee all Americans, all pedestrians, all bicyclists that they are protected equally,” Rush told Recode. “I am concerned … the technology can’t guarantee that I have the same protection against being harmed by a self-driving vehicle as someone who has a darker skin tone or a lighter skin tone.” Rush’s proposal, Levine added, would force the agency to make this key type of safety information public.
In February, the NTSB chair <a href="https://downloads.regulations.gov/NHTSA-2020-0106-0617/attachment_1.pdf">wrote to the NHTSA</a> urging the agency to develop performance standards for collision avoidance features, like vehicle detection and emergency braking.
“We know that creating new motor vehicle safety standards or revising old ones to bring up to date is very time-consuming and very resource-intensive,” said Will Wallace, the manager for safety policy at Consumer Reports. “This is an agency that is chronically underfunded. The agency doesn’t have anywhere near the resources that it needs to protect the public effectively. It’s incumbent on Congress to give the agency what it really needs.”
Lack of detailed requirements for these kinds of autonomous tools puts the US behind other parts of the world, including new car rating systems in Japan, Australia, and Europe. The US’s new car assessment program doesn’t rate these advantaged technologies, explained Becic of the NTSB.
Neither automatic braking nor lane assistance features are designed to allow a car to operate without a driver’s full attention. And, again, the public availability of fully autonomous cars is still years away. Some think that moment may <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/2/14/21063487/self-driving-cars-autonomous-vehicles-waymo-cruise-uber">never arrive</a>. Still, these features set a foundation for what regulating roads full of self-driving vehicles could eventually involve. Figuring out how to regulate autonomous car features is important not just for cars that already offer them — it’s key to building a future where the roads are safe for everyone.
Clarification: The story has been updated to include the information that, following publication, the NTSB said that its preliminary research found that Autopilot’s Autosteer function couldn’t be used during a test in the crash location and that it had not made conclusions about the crash. The story has also been updated to note that the man who operated a Tesla without someone in the driver’s seat was arrested.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22425169/autonomous-features-cars-elon-musk-autopilot">https://www.vox.com/recode/22425169/autonomous-features-cars-elon-musk-autopilot</a>

vox Tesla is casting a spotlight on the government’s struggle to keep up with self-driving cars

Tesla’s Autopilot software, an advanced driver assistance feature, is in the news again. And not in a good way. Over the weekend, a short ...