Businesses Move Forward With Self-Driving Cars, While Lawmakers Remain Parked (Watch)

Companies like Google and Tesla are moving forward with developing autonomous vehicles. But they might be moving a little too fast for state and local governments.

Currently, only nine states and Washington D.C. have laws on the books related to self-driving vehicles. And not all of those laws even specify whether or not a human driver must be present in case they need to take over.

This type of thing is bound to happen with brand new and evolving technology. But it can be a serious issue for businesses that are developing the technology. If companies pour their time and resources into creating a new technology only to be slapped with a bunch of unexpected regulations after the fact, it could be a huge deterrent to future innovation.

There's not always a way to avoid regulations entirely. And the companies that make autonomous vehicles should certainly expect to deal with plenty of new related laws in the coming years. But they'd still likely prefer to be aware of any rules or obstacles before dedicating a bunch of resources to those projects.

Know the Small Business Regulations That May Affect You

For small businesses, while it might not be self-driving cars, there are still likely to be some times where you have to deal with changing rules and laws. So it's important for communities hoping to encourage small business development to be straightforward about these rules up front. Otherwise they'll need to kiss that much needed small business growth goodbye.

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This article, "Businesses Move Forward With Self-Driving Cars, While Lawmakers Remain Parked (Watch)" was first published on Small Business Trends