Before I Write About NHTSA

Yes, yes, yes, I'm reading the long NHTSA guidelines document. It will take a few days to digest, or at least a day. This is called reading beyond the executive summary. And there is actually other news.

UK insurers are handling driverless stuff behind the scenes and dealing calmly with the driving - or partially self-driving - public by stating that all normal car insurance policies will cover human-operated vehicles and self-driving vehicles. And coverage will extend to whatever insurance usually covers inside and outside of the vehicle.

Lots in England

Oxford-spawned Oxbotica, over in England, is busy designing driverless software and hardware for many types of vehicles. The hardware is lasers and cameras. This is for cars, of course, but also for forklifts, mining trucks, and a NASA Mars rover (I guess the Buy America requirements do not apply).

By a lovely canal

In Amsterdam, you might soon see and be able to ride on a driverless - or should I say captainless - boat. It is called, no joke, Roboat. This is the product of a partnership among MIT, which is a US university, and two Dutch universities. To be ready for testing next year, the Roboat will be able to carry people or packages. Since it is basically a flat raft, a succession of Roboats lined up can operate as a walkway or a bridge.

For fun, meet the Rolls Royce moving fancy TV den 

Without steering wheel and brakes, but with "Eleanor," your personal artificial intelligence assistant, the Rolls Royce driverless concept design is neat, but totally impractical. Bright beige carpeting means you will not be bringing kids, coffee, wine, or pizza. There is a very large screen and a loveseat. Fancy, in a futuristic way.