Tesla and Waymo executives defend the safety of self-driving cars before Senate committee

Washington — Top executives at Tesla and Waymo made the case for the safety of their vehicles before a Senate committee on Wednesday, insisting their driving systems are safer than human drivers, despite recent incidents.  Sarah Ploss and Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.

Washington — Top executives at Tesla and Waymo made the case for the safety of their vehicles before a Senate committee on Wednesday, insisting their driving systems are safer than human drivers, despite recent incidents. 

Congress is considering how to move forward with legislation to create uniform safety regulations to govern self-driving vehicles, which are becoming increasingly common in major cities. Roughly half of U.S. states currently have differing laws and regulations governing self-driving cars, while others don't, creating a patchwork regulatory system. 

Senators on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday expressed an eagerness to eliminate avoidable crashes from distracted or otherwise impaired drivers through autonomous vehicles, but also expressed concerns about recent autonomous vehicle incidents. 

"Fully autonomous vehicles offer the potential to reduce crashes on roads, but we have seen the risk of letting companies beta test on our roads with no guardrails," said the committee's ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. 

Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it opened an investigation into Waymo robotaxis passing and failing to yield to school buses after a series of incidents in Austin, Texas, which Sen. Ted Cruz, the committee chairman, told CBS News is "obviously unacceptable." In Santa Monica, California, earlier this month, a Waymo vehicle struck a child near her elementary school. The child, who the company said darted out from behind another vehicle, suffered minor injuries.