Wyoming officials are contemplating talks with Tesla about a potential self-driving vehicle pilot program within the state’s government fleet.
They’re also talking about making laws around liability and function pertaining to autonomous vehicles.
David Pope, one of Gov. Mark Gordon’s liaisons to the Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, delivered a presentation Monday about what he called the need for state laws around autonomous vehicles.
Legislators in 2021 formed a bill, Senate File 7, which sought to define autonomous vehicles, their maneuvers; licensing and insurance rules pertaining to them, and other accountability policies.
The House of Representatives killed that bill with a tie vote, 29-29, with two representatives marked excused, on March 25, 2021.
But the future is encroaching, Pope warned the committee Monday.
“I think it’s really important we begin these discussions,” he said. “The best time to begin most of these discussions was two years ago; and the second-best time is now.”
Those discussions should consider Wyoming’s unique environment, he said, referencing vast roadways, desolate stretches between towns, extreme heat, and extreme cold.
And Maybe The Government Should…
Pope also discussed whether autonomous vehicles could increase the efficiency of Wyoming’s own governmental fleet.
He quoted tech giant and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who said in March that autonomous driving could increase a car’s usefulness by five to 10 times without exploding its operating costs.
“There’s never been something where a software update increased the value of a gigantic asset base by a factor of like 500 to 1,000%,” Pope quoted from Musk.
In his own words, Pope discussed a future in which Wyoming’s state fleet could drive Legislative Service Office workers to a meeting halfway across the state, drop them off, pick up a legislator and deliver him or her to a meeting, run other errands and drive itself to the state shop for a charge.
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, told Cowboy State Daily in a later interview that the question of whether a government should run a pilot autonomous vehicle program or otherwise test run such a momentous tech development hinges, essentially, on two questions:
Would it increase government efficiency? And, is it responsible?
For example, he said, he doesn’t advocate placing children in an autonomous bus anywhere within the near future.
He urged caution and the pursuit of well-crafted legislation.
But In The Meantime
In the meantime, however, committee members told Pope to keep the conversation alive.
That means talking to Tesla about whether it wants to test out its autonomous cars’ grit, longevity, and problem-solving on vast highways and in extreme weather.
After all, reasoned Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, the Wyoming legislature might not be keen on funding a pilot program on its own.
“I think about cost all the time, and I suspect the legislature would not be a fan of fronting the cost to try something like this,” said Yin. “But maybe a company would.”
Pope said he’s already been talking with Tesla, in “a couple of initial emails back and forth.”
The company is interested in hearing what the committee wants to do, Pope said.
“I’m happy to pursue those (discussions),” he added.
Back To The Drawing Board
During the meeting Rothfuss lamented, with a wry chuckle, that the Blockchain committee had forged autonomous vehicle legislation by looking at other states’ work, sourcing stakeholders and contemplating the issues, only to see that legislation die.
At the time and compared with other states, the legislation was superior, he said.
But now, legislators would need to review other states’ laws and advances in this space once again to catch up, he indicated.
“The liability side on AI (artificial intelligence) is really very tricky,” he said.
It is too late in this year’s interim session to start a bill for the 2026 lawmaking session, said Rothfuss, but if Pope and others could “(continue) to explore it and even (bring) others that are interested in it,” the committee may be more prepared for the next interim.
Sen. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, agreed.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
