Child/Adolescent development and autonomous vehicle operation: “operator’s licenses” instead of driver’s licenses

autonomous vehicles will be routinely driving on the world’s roadways within the next decade, and they may be ubiquitous by the 2040s.1-2 Policymakers must heed attention. There are a range of laws and regulations that might change as a result of autonomous vehicles, but I call attention to one: operator’s licenses. What we today call “driver’s licenses” may soon become outdated artifacts, replaced instead by “operator’s licenses” that document an individual’s capacity to handle any situations that could arise while riding (or sleeping, working, reading, daydreaming, or text-messaging) in an autonomous vehicle driven by a robot.