A Kansas legislative committee will consider a bill allowing driverless semi-trucks on state highways.
The topic drew the attention of the Wichita Eagle in a guests commentary about huge trucks going down the highway without a driver.
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“A 25,000-pound truck and no one behind the wheel” sounds like the chorus of a country tune or the antagonist of a dystopian novel. Unfortunately, it’s neither in Kansas. Senate Bill 379, up for hearings in the Senate Transportation Committee this week, aims to haul driverless big rigs onto our Kansas highways and let them loose with no state-mandated testing, inspection, oversight or accountability — only the vague notion of federal oversight and verbal assurances of safety. The entire bill on the topic — the only bill — is a whopping two pages. Picturing a driverless semi next to your family on the highway going 80 miles per hour is daunting. But what if you knew the computer driving the semi had not been specially registered, tested or inspected in our state?