“This legislation is critical from two different perspectives: One is a competitiveness angle, both internationally and domestically, and the other requires a particular nature where testing has to happen on public roads with real traffic,” says Raj Rajkumar, the co-director of General Motors-Carnegie Mellon Vehicular Information Technology Collaborative Research Lab.

Rajkumar says it’s much easier to test and work with developers when they’re all in the same state, so it would benefit Pennsylvania to create laws that are more friendly to autonomous vehicle testing.

“If it is being permitted in 39 states, but not in the brain and heart of autonomous vehicle technology development, that doesn’t make sense,” says Rajkumar.

He says as technology improves, it needs to be tested in real conditions.