PHOENIX – After years of debate about banning cellphone use
while driving, state lawmakers are now looking at making the
omnipresent cellphone a critical part of your driving
experience.
The next time you’re pulled over, instead of fishing for your
wallet you might just have to hang up the call you were on – the
one that caused you to run that red light in the first place – and
flash the officer your phone.
The Legislature is dabbling with, and in some cases approving,
changes that would allow drivers to store virtual licenses,
registrations and proof of insurance on their phone.
All that assumes, of course, that you’re actually driving the
car at the time. Another change under consideration is whether the
state should take the first steps to let “autonomous” driverless
vehicles on state roads.
All these ideas are being pushed by state Rep. Jeff Dial,
R-Chandler. He said it just makes sense for Arizona to stay one
step ahead of the technology.
Consider the driver’s license.
“I know whenever I go hiking or I go to the gym, one of the
things you’ve always got to carry with you is that
government-issued ID,” he said. In fact, Dial said, that’s often
the only reason he has his wallet with him.
While someone behind the wheel of a vehicle should always have
that wallet, Dial said that isn’t always the case.
“People generally always grab their cellphone,” he said. “I
don’t know that they always grab their wallet.”
He envisions a “virtual” driver’s license. That “document” would
exist on the cellphone, containing exactly the same information as
the plastic one. Dial said it also may be more secure.
He said it’s not hard to find places on the Internet willing to
produce counterfeit Arizona drivers licenses, complete with the
security features and the hologram, for $400. He said the state
could have a verification system where the phone would “ping” the
Motor Vehicle Division computer.
Colleagues on the House Transportation Committee appear not
quite ready to make that leap. So Dial is revising HB 2678 to form
a committee to study the issue.
He had better luck with a plan to let motorists provide proof of
insurance simply by showing a copy of the certificate on their
smartphone.
HB 2677 lets drivers simply take a picture of the card with
their phone and carry it. That photo would provide the same legal
proof of minimum coverage as the card or actual insurance policy,
the only documents now accepted.
Dial is also working on a measure to create a paperless
registration certificate but did not push it this year because of
the cost.
And then there are those driverless cars Dial believes will
eventually be on Arizona roads.
His HB 2679 would require the state Department of Transportation
to adopt rules authorizing “autonomous” vehicles, operated
hands-free by computers using optics, lasers, radar, global
positioning systems and something called LIDAR, for light-detecting
and ranging, which uses a rotating mirror atop a vehicle to get a
three-dimensional image of what is around it.
It would not actually permit ADOT to give the final green light
to the driverless cars. What it would allow, though, is
testing.
The plan hit a speed bump this past week when Dial could not get
the Transportation Committee to approve it, but he vowed to bring
it back later this session with some added high-profile
backing.
“Google said they would be happy to fly people out here and
educate people because they would like to come here and test a
vehicle,” he said.
Online
Want to see what Google is doing with driverless cars?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp9KBrH8H04
Article source: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/efe182e0-104f-506f-96e8-394291ae2714.html
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