DTV Transition Can Serve As ‘Model’ for Making Driverless Cars Into Mainstream Reality, Shapiro Says

The U.S. DTV transition can serve as a “model” for the successful “government-industry effort” that’s needed to make driverless vehicles a mainstream reality, CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a blog post at Nextgov.com. Shapiro buys into estimates that driverless cars have the potential of reducing traffic deaths by 90 percent, he said. The “open process and committee structure” that went into the DTV transition “attracted thousands of technical volunteers who discussed and resolved hundreds of issues,” Shapiro said Dec. 29. “Their recommendations led to several formal actions by the FCC and Congress, and resulted in a unique and robust HDTV system delivering clear, sharp pictures and sound to Americans,” he said. “The transition succeeded thanks to an emphasis on setting clear goals, an open consensus multistakeholder process and a consensus among leadership and participants to develop the best result for all Americans. The initiative remains the most successful government-industry effort in which I have had the honor of participating.” If the public and private sectors were able to band together to “undertake a successful effort like this for better pictures and sound,” then certainly President Barack Obama or his successor “can challenge us to work together to save millions of American lives,” Shapiro said. “The implementation of driverless cars on U.S. roads can and should be a bipartisan effort."