Autonomous vehicles (AVs) such as Google's self-driving cars could have many federal regulations to deal with before they are road-ready based on a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The report highlighted many old-school standards that would be difficult for some robotic cars to meet due to redundant controls.

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NHTSA's study points out that autonomous cars that include duplicate controls for drivers including steering wheels and brake pedals will not have many problems. However Google's Love Bug-shaped AVs would have more problems because they would have to apply for freedom from certain rules.

NHTSA has plans to help states and carmakers interested in the development of driverless vehicles. It will hold public meetings in the District of Columbia and California to create guidelines for self-driving cars. A United States Senate panel will also meet next week to take up the issue, according to CNET.

Silicon Valley and Detroit auto giants are both starting to increase spending in AV technology. However, many experts believe safety standards and other regulatory issues could keep robot cars off public roads for years after they are ready for the retail market.

The NHTS study reports that it could be easy for automated vehicles to meet federal auto safety standards if they are close to traditional vehicle design, according to Christian Science Monitor. For example, if driverless cars have steering wheels and brake pedals the vehicles could be street-legal.

In the past NHTSA has even stated that self-driving cars could be classified as drivers. Last month the federal agency wrote in a letter to Google that the century-old definition of "driver" being a human might need to be changed to include a computer's artificial intelligence.   

Google's AV prototypes without a steering wheel and brake pedals could still have problems with state and federal regulations. California is proposing new rules that would require robotic cars to include a steering wheel and licensed human driver while on a public road.  

In other self-driving car news, a Google Lexus was recently involved in the company's first at-fault accident. It was involved in a minor crash into a California public bus last month when it wrongly guessed the big vehicle would yield to it as the AV merged left.