Auto, tech industries urge Congress to pass self-driving legislation

"My fear is we fall behind with the rest of the world."

The big picture: As breakthroughs are happening on the mechanical, computer and engineering levels with regard to autonomous vehicles, "time is running out" on moving policy forward, said Latta.

Meanwhile, the industry is struggling with toeing the line on actual safety and creating the public perception of safety.

• It's unrealistic to expect there won't be accidents involving autonomous vehicles during testing, said Latta, but that shouldn't keep Congress from passing legislation to pursue it. He also pointed to the fact that tens of thousands of deaths each year are caused by human error.