• August 10th, 2017

As the auto industry urges Congress to rush self-driving vehicles onto America’s roadways, a quieter discussion is happening inside state government transportation authorities around the country.

Reports pop up on Twitter daily of autonomous delivery robots patrolling sidewalks in Washington, D.C., or Sunnyvale, California. Self-driving vehicles are already being tested on public roads in states like California, Washington, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Even the most conservative estimates place the arrival date of fully autonomous technology sometime within the next 20 years, while more optimistic technologists — like Tesla’s Elon Musk — predict the technology will be ready this year.