GM in Hot Water for Playing Politics

By Dan Palmier, Entrepreneur and FinancierNearly every decision maker in the automotive industry agrees self-driving cars are the wave of the future. And that assumption has some automakers hoping to stack the deck in their favor. The latest reportedly making an attempt to influence legislation related to so-called autonomous cars is General Motors.According to the Associated Press, GM has been working the phones, furiously trying to talk lawmakers into approving rules that, critics say, would benefit the automaker … to the detriment of its competition. Legislators in at least four states told the Associated Press GM lobbyists have been actively trying to persuade them to sponsor bills that would focus self-driving legislation on promoting cars that were part of on-demand, ride-sharing fleets … that must be owned by an automaker.Entrepreneur Rhonda Adams notes, “It’s this provision that has other companies working on self-driving car tech, but don’t actually manufacture cars, upset. They say the bills would leave them out in the cold, at a near-permanent disadvantage when it comes to the race to grab market share in the self-driving car market. GM says this is an unfounded concern.”The battle began where GM had the decided home field advantage – Michigan. They tried a bill there, but Waymo, a company that is working on self-driving tech, fought the bill. The original bill was scrapped in place of a compromise.Now versions of the original bill are being floated in at least five more states - Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. GM is pushing hard, state-by-state, to influence the legislation and get these bills passed. But no decision has been made either way … yet.Since the federal government has yet to make any umbrella rulings on self-driving cars, it’s up to the states to set regulations and define what is and isn’t acceptable. Federal regulators are offering “guidance,” but their suggestions have no real weight at this point, so state legislators have been barraged by demands, requests and ‘suggestions’ by corporate interest. Currently, according to the AP, there are at least 55 different bills being considered across 21 states.GM’s rationale for restricting self-driving cars sounds plausible. According to the AP, a GM lobbyist said: “…public acceptance of the technology is going to be very critical… If somebody is allowed to put technology on the roads and highways that proves to be unsafe, that could have very harmful repercussions.”Focusing on public safety as a chief concern is a compelling argument, although it does offer a very specific target for other companies to aim at. If Uber, Waymo, and others can prove safe enough, GM will have to come up with another reason to push legislation that will give them an edge.