House panel approves legislation to speed deployment of self-driving cars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influential U.S. House Committee on Thursday approved a revised bipartisan bill on a 54-0 vote that would speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles.

The bill would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year, a cap that would rise to 100,000 vehicles annually over three years.

Automakers and technology companies believe the odds are good Congress approves legislation before the end of the year.