The U.S. House will vote on bills after Labor Day that would let automakers test self-driving cars in every state, replacing the current state-by-state patchwork of regulations, and allow cars without steering wheels and other human-operated controls.
Two Michigan members of the House, Democrat Debbie Dingell and Republican Fred Upton, helped draft the bills.
Rebecca Lindland is an analyst with Kelley Blue Book. She says self-driving cars have the potential to save thousands of lives every year if states and the federal government get out of the way of their development.
"Technology has already moved so far beyond the government regulations that we need to say, okay, this is what the playing field looks like," said Lindland. "We can't have Washington hold up development, that's last thing we want to do, because then you're looking at the Wild Wild West."
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators is working on similar bills.
