The U.S. House of Representatives’ bill governing self-driving vehicles has a hole in it big enough to drive an autopilot Mack truck through. The Senate has to close it when it tackles its parallel legislation later this month.

The fully autonomous vehicle market is estimated to hit $87 billion by 2030, which could ignite another tech boom to fuel the U.S. and Silicon Valley economies for decades – but not if people are afraid to use the machines for fear of losing their privacy. That’s what’s at risk in the federal legislation.

The House bill passed by a unanimous voice vote earlier this month is generally good. The clear intent is to get self-driving vehicles on American roads quickly and with nationally consistent oversight, rather than going state-by-state. But the loophole in the section dealing with privacy protections is a potential disaster for consumers.

Read more at The Boulder Daily Camera