Mitch Perry
Sanford House Republican Jason Brodeur announced Thursday he filed a bill related to autonomous vehicles.
HB 275 would streamline the process for rue self-driving vehicles on public roads in Florida.
“With more than 90 percent of crashes in 2015 being the result of human error, autonomous vehicles have the potential to eliminate this error and transform the way we travel,” Brodeur said in a statement. “I am proud to support HB 725 this session, as Florida is largely recognized as the nation’s leader in autonomous vehicle public policy. But in order to maintain this position and encourage companies to begin testing and deploying in the Sunshine State, we must address the current laws governing motor vehicle operation that never contemplated a driverless future.”
As Brodeur mentioned, Florida is considered on the cutting edge when it comes to autonomous vehicle policy, strongly led by St. Petersburg GOP Senator Jeff Brandes, an unbridled enthusiast for the technology. Brandes originally sponsored legislation in 2012 encouraging the testing and study of automated vehicles in Florida.
Last year the Florida Legislature unanimously backed HB 7027, Brandes bill that made Florida the first state in the nation to legalize fully autonomous vehicles on public roads without a driver behind the wheel. “That’s a game changer,” Brandes said this past November in Tampa at an autonomous vehicle summit, claiming that the law makes every 30-year plan created by various state and local agencies “wrong.”
