Florida Seeks to Compete with Arizona with a New Autonomous Vehicle Law

Arizona is one of the states that has led the way in welcoming the testing of self-driving technology on their roadways. Now, Florida is seeking to become more competitive by welcoming autonomous vehicles on public roads within the state. The new bill was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in June of 2019.

The New Law in Florida

Although the new law was only signed recently, it’s already gone into effect. Starting July 1, 2019, it is legal for fully autonomous vehicles to drive on public roads in Florida. The Autonomous Vehicles law does not require the presence of safety drivers, provided the self-driving vehicle is equipped with a system intended to be executed without a human operator. So far, autonomous vehicles this advanced do not exist outside of testing programs. Looking ahead to the future, this law also provides for the use of autonomous vehicles in on-demand ride-sharing companies, including Lyft, Uber, Maven, and Waymo. If ride-sharing companies want to use autonomous vehicles, they must have primary liability coverage of at least $1 million.

Current Testing Efforts in Florida 

Waymo is one of the companies that plans to take full advantage of Florida’s new law. The company is already testing its autonomous technology in the Phoenix area, although it has delayed its plans for a full-scale ride-hailing service in Phoenix that would be completely driverless. Waymo planned to begin testing on Florida highways in August of 2019, primarily in the Miami area. The test runs were scheduled to include drives to Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers. The primary purpose of these tests was to collect data with radar and laser sensors to improve how its technology handles heavy rainfall.

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