Privacy regulator warns against over-regulating self-driving cars

Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen said Wednesday that her agency should avoid "unnecessary" regulations when it comes to connected cars, including the self-driving models that Google and Uber have bet big on. She noted the thousands of fatalities occur every year on America's roads, adding:

"Connected cars promise to significantly reduce such fatalities, and we regulators must keep that benefit in mind to ensure that our approach to connected cars do not hinder such a positive outcome. And at the FTC, it means we must continue to work with our sister agencies like [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] to avoid unnecessary or duplicative regulation that could slow or stop innovation and ultimately leave American consumers worse off."

Why it matters: Consumer privacy and data security are huge outstanding questions for self-driving cars, even as companies in both Silicon Valley and Detroit forge ahead with their plans to get the vehicles on the roads.