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Kentucky legislators override governor veto; pass autonomous vehicle law

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The Kentucky legislation recently overrode a veto from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and sent a bill allowing fully autonomous vehicles on state roads to the Secretary of State. 

Beshear vetoed HB7 stating it “does not fully address questions about the safety and security of autonomous vehicles, nor does it implement a testing period that would require a licensed human driver to be behind the wheel.”

He said fully autonomous vehicles should only be allowed on the state’s roadways after extensive testing with humans behind the wheel. 

The veto was overrode with a 58-40 vote in the Senate and 21-15 vote in the House on April 12. 

“They [AVs], in fact, are better than a human driver who gets tired, who may get intoxicated, who may get distracted by what’s going in the cab. Those autonomous vehicles will not,” said Sen. Gex Williams (R-District 20), a supporter of the bill, previously told according to WEKU.

The bill is effective July 31, 2026 and will be phased-in with a driver behind the wheel during the first two years. 

It also requires law enforcement to create an interaction plan to be submitted to the Transportation Cabinet and the Department of Kentucky State Police before an AV can be operated on Kentucky roads without a human driver.

In California, new legislation introduced Tuesday, would require each city and county to create  policy regulating AVs before they are allowed to operate on their roadways. 

The bill, SB915, requires cities to specifically set policy on permitting, vehicle caps and operating hours. It also would ask that local government require the vehicles to have an override system for first responders. 

Cities also would be allowed to create service charges, fees and assessments needed to administer any policy created by an ordinance, the bill says. 

The Teamsters announced their support of the bill through a press release Wednesday. 

“The Teamsters commend the Senators on the Local Government Committee who supported this bill to protect public safety and good union jobs,” said Chris Griswold, Teamsters International vice president, says in the release. “Right now, local communities have zero control over the dangerous autonomous vehicles on their roads. SB 915 will help fix this broken system and keep our communities safe by giving municipalities a voice in the deployment of AVs.”

Multiple autonomous vehicle attacks have happened in California as public disdain for the vehicles seems to be growing

This included a mob smashing a Waymo vehicle and setting it on fire earlier this year. An activist group, Safe Street Rebel, also has targeted autonomous vehicles with protests. 

In October, ABI Research released its findings from research conducted on the current state of autonomous driving technology in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, mapping, and location intelligence. ABI found that, by 2030, 69.3% of vehicles on the road will be equipped with SAE Level 2+ or higher features.

To consumers, autonomous vehicle (AV) features and driver supervision combinations seem radically different in terms of their value, cost, and overall impact on their personal mobility experience, according to the whitepaper.

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Photo courtesy of alexeys/iStock

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