Self-Driving Company Gives Away Technology, DIY Autonomous Concept Just Got Larger

George Hotz, the 27-year old tech genius who became famous for being the first to jailbreak the iPhone and the PlayStation 3, announced last month that he was shutting down his efforts at creating a DIY self-driving system. Recently, he made a reversal on his decision and is instead giving away the technology they were able to create. This is not only meant to ensure that his autonomous driving technology gets put to use, it also circumvents the regulations that he loathes.

The company that Hotz had until a month ago was called Comma.ai and it was supposed to sell self-driving kits that drivers or manufacturers would simply install in their vehicles to enable semi-autonomous features. Unfortunately for the tech figure, the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administration badgered him with objections and questions that he didn’t like dealing with, The Wall Street Journal reports.

As a result, Hotz simply decided to close up shop instead of having to deal with the endless red tape. By releasing software that could convert 2016 Honda Civic Touring and 2016 Acura ILX models into vehicles that have semi-autonomous features, it would seem that Hotz decided that there was a better way. On that note, he was also quick to point out that the software released is not exactly foolproof.

“We’re not shipping a product,” Hotz said. “We’re shipping alpha software really for research purposes only. We do not provide any guarantees.”

The decision to release the product as a software is also something that Hotz decided to do in order to get around the rules of the NHTSA, The Verge reports. Hotz said that software products are beyond the regulatory powers of the agency because it is only meant to inspect and regulate physical products. The tech figure also said that there are plenty of other countries that would love to have their technology.