Congress plans to step in to end confusion over self-driving cars

The House and Senate are expected to introduce complimentary bills as soon as Tuesday meant to reduce confusion between the states and federal government when it comes to regulating self-driving cars.

The House is expected to drop its bill first, introduced by Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, who serves as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee's digital commerce panel.

The Senate bill will be introduced some time later by Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

These cars, also known as autonomous vehicles, or AVs, blend advances in digital communications with that of vehicle mobility to enable newer cars and trucks to navigate highways and city streets without the need of a driver. Advocates of the technology point out its advantages when it comes to lowering fuel consumption by making driving more efficient and also more safe.

But confusion between states and the federal government on the role of regulating these new cars could imperil the technology by creating a patchwork of state-by-state policies governing AVs, according to advocates.