Available Soon: Request your printed copies of the Idaho Freedom Index mailed to you!
Request Your Copies
Note to Dustin: This is currently only visible to logged in users for testing.
Click Me!
video could not be found

Coeur d’Alene robot ordinance a pro-free market choice

Coeur d’Alene robot ordinance a pro-free market choice

by
Wayne Hoffman, IFF’s former President
August 6, 2014

It was just a month ago that we had some pretty big criticisms for the Coeur d’Alene City Council, which was considering an ordinance to regulate robots. I jokingly tweeted that the city’s proposed robot licensure requirements and ban on robots harming humans summarily ended my plans for a robot army invasion. The proposal in front of the Coeur d’Alene council deserved to be mocked.

Not so with the newest version, which got a nod from the City Council Tuesday night. Rather than regulate the robotics industry, the ordinance now says robots are permitted on city property unless specifically not permitted. In other words, city parks and other facilities would be open to developers and other robotics engineers looking to utilize the wide-open spaces.

Even more importantly, the new ordinance makes a first-of-its kind attempt to welcome autonomously driven vehicles. Driverless cars would now be welcome in Coeur d’Alene, so long as the cars obey all the traffic laws. I think that will make Coeur d’Alene attractive to Google and other designers of computer-controlled automobiles. The ordinance could, indeed, be a model for other cities and states looking to address this emerging technology.

In short, the city’s new robot ordinance is pro-free market, pro-economic development, pro-robot. Kudos to the City Council for taking it up.

Idaho Freedom Foundation
802 W. Bannock Street, Suite 405, Boise, Idaho 83702
p 208.258.2280 | e [email protected]
COPYRIGHT © 2024 Idaho freedom Foundation
magnifiercrossmenucross-circle linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram