Three major US automakers are forming a consortium to draw up safety standards for self-driving cars that reportedly could eventually help create regulations in the United States.
General Motors, Ford and Toyota said in a statement cited by Reuters they were joining forces with SAE International to establish autonomous vehicle "safety guiding principles to help inform standards development".
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The group will also "work to safely advance testing, pre-competitive development and deployment," they added.
Reuters noted regulators in the US had been grappling with how to regulate self-driving cars with other countries watching closely to see how implementation of the emerging technology works out.
Last year, the report noted, US congress, unable to agree on a way forward, abandoned a bid to pass sweeping laws to speed the introduction of autonomous vehicles but may revive the effort later this year.
The new group, dubbed the Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium, will begin by deciding priorities, with a focus on data sharing, vehicle interaction with other road users and safe testing guidelines, Reuters said .
Randy Visintainer, chief technology officer at Ford's Autonomous Vehicles unit, told Reuters the goal was to work with companies and government "to expedite development of standards that can lead to rule making."
