Google, Tesla, Nissan, other autonomous vehicle manufacturers should work together to encourage the following legislative concepts.

1. accept driving on public roads is a privilege, not a right.
2. accept any driver on the road needs a driver’s license.
3. propose autonomous driving go through similar procedures humans go through to get a license to drive on the public roads
4. Autonomous driving should start with a student driver’s permit (or in some countries I believe it is called a learner’s permit), after passing written and visual tests, just as a human would start. A student driver needs supervision when driving which means an autonomous vehicle with a student driver’s permit would need human supervision. Just as a human supervising a student driver has liability for the student driver, so to would the human supervisor have liability for the student autonomous driver.
5. Autonomous driving should have an on the road driving test similar to human drivers to obtain a regular driver’s license. Just as regular human drivers can have restriction on their driver’s licenses, for example humans may be required to wear glasses while driving, a regular autonomous driver’s license may have restrictions. These restrictions can be removed, over time, as autonomous driving passes tests to have these restrictions removed.
6. Just as human drivers need an enhanced driver’s license to drive a truck or school bus, autonomous driving should be required to have an enhanced driver’s license for such activities.
7. In regard to restrictions placed on a regular autonomous driver’s license, public roads an highways need to be categorized as to the challenge they pose to autonomous driving. For example, some roads do not have the white lines or other marking some autonomous driving systems currently rely on. I don’t know what list of restrictions should exist or how to convey the category of information for each section of highway.
8. Require all autonomous driving vehicles to have a dash cam. This dash cam will be necessary to show who was driving the autonomous vehicle slightly before and during any accident (to show whether the human driver or the autonomous driver had been in control) to be able to prove the accident was not the fault of the autonomous driver. Please note I am now calling autonomous driving the autonomous driver.

I assume autonomous driving is far enough advanced to obtain a student driving permit. It will be a feather in the cap of the first company to have their autonomous driver obtain a regular driver’s license.

Not all autonomous driving is created equal, just as not all human drivers are created equal. We need to accept autonomous drivers must go through the same testing steps human drivers go through to obtain the privilege to drive on public roads and highways.

I strongly encourage you to consider what I am suggesting and I strongly encourage you to contact other companies regarding what I am suggesting.