Are Tesla self-driving cars street-legal? Here is a video of a Tesla car driving itself. In the jurisdictions in which it is operating, is it street legal? The Tesla Model S, when made, didn't drive itself (but had a suspicious number of sensors it wasn't using). One day, a software update came out and puff: they drive themselves now. For example, if it got in a car crash, who would be considered the driver, the car or the person in the driver's seat. Are they street legal?
Self-driving cars (aka Driverless Cars) are being researched widely by different companies. The Nevada State was the first one to allow such cars to be tested in the roads. Google is behind this achievement. Similarly to Uber and some other apps that impact the way we live, each country will have it's fair time of court to debate whether driverless cars are allowed or not. Without a specific jurisdiction in mind, your question is too-broad, but I believe that there will be countries with early authorization of such cars, whereas some countries will still take up a few decades to start introducing this new technology. Up to this day, it is beyond the scope of my knowledge any driverless car in which the company states that a human driver is not required in the driver seat. Considering that it's a brand new technology and the outcomes are still not quite definitive, it's safer to require a human ready to act up and it shields the company from liability. We know the cars are being tested and we know drivers are required to be focused, so if an accident happens the driver is liable. Here is a map of the USA jurisdiction about autonomous cars: Source: Wikipedia Currently, there are news about USA, UK, France and Switzerland allowing such cars to be tested in public roads.
The driver of a vehicle is responsible for moving violations, the owner is responsible for other tickets such as parking and vehicle correction notices. California Vehicle Code section 4000 states: A person shall not drive, move, or leave standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole or pipe dolly, or logging dolly, unless it is registered and the appropriate fees have been paid under this code or registered under the permanent trailer identification program, except that an off-highway motor vehicle which displays an identification plate or device issued by the department pursuant to Section 38010 may be driven, moved, or left standing in an offstreet public parking facility without being registered or paying registration fees. A ticket for a moving violation, including driving an unregistered vehicle, is issued to the driver; the driver is responsible. Section 40610 of the California Vehicle Code describes what occurs with an unregistered vehicle. If there is no evidence of fraud or persistent neglect then a &quot;Notice to Correct Violation&quot; will be issued and will be the responsibility of the vehicle owner. The correction notice to have the vehicle registered is different than the violation of driving an unregistered vehicle. Non-moving violations, such as parking tickets are the responsibility of the vehicle's owner if the vehicle is being operated with the owner's permission. Section 40200 describes this as it relates to parking tickets: (a) Any violation of any regulation that is not a misdemeanor governing the standing or parking of a vehicle under this code, under any federal statute or regulation, or under any ordinance enacted by local authorities is subject to a civil penalty. The enforcement of those civil penalties shall be governed by the civil administrative procedures set forth in this article. (b) Except as provided in Section 40209, the registered owner and driver, rentee, or lessee of a vehicle cited for any violation of any regulation governing the parking of a vehicle under this code, under any federal statute or regulation, or under any ordinance enacted by a local authority shall be jointly liable for parking penalties imposed under this article, unless the owner can show that the vehicle was used without consent of that person, express or implied. An owner who pays any parking penalty, civil judgment, costs, or administrative fees pursuant to this article shall have the right to recover the same from the driver, rentee, or lessee. (c) The driver of a vehicle who is not the owner thereof but who uses or operates the vehicle with the express or implied permission of the owner shall be considered the agent of the owner to receive notices of parking violations served in accordance with this article and may contest the notice of violation. While the owner of the vehicle is legally responsible for non-moving violations of the vehicle code, a reasonable argument can be made that the person who committed the infraction, such as parking illegally, is morally responsible and may incur a civil liability to the owner of the vehicle as highlighted by bold in section (b) above.
The answer depends on the state. In California, you are generally prohibited from driving with headphones in/over both ears. (California Vehicle Code 27400) gnasher729's answer explains how even if this is not illegal per se, it may be illegal by implicating other laws.
Good timing: I just got a new OBD II scanner yesterday. Since this might hit a wider audience, I'll take a foundation-first approach. Your vehicle is comprised of things like brakes, ABS, fuel injection, gear box. Nowadays, these parts are operated by electronic controllers. The physical path by which the controllers receive and transmit electronic signals is called a bus. (It performs the same function as the internal bus in your computer, which connects the CPU, memory, etc.) CAN is simply a protocol for how information travels on the bus. So it does all the things you'd imagine a protocol does (boring things like dictating message formats be 64 bits and exciting things like determining priority). Protocols are defined by standards. Prior to widespread implementation of CAN, there were other standards (four, I believe) used by various manufacturers. CAN is widespread, but it's important to note that it's only standard on lighter vehicles. 40 CFR 86.005-17(h)(3) Beginning with the 2008 model year and beyond, ISO 15765-4.3:2001 “Road Vehicles-Diagnostics on Controller Area Network (CAN)—Part 4: Requirements for emission-related systems”, (December 14, 2001) shall be the only acceptable protocol used for standardized on-board to off-board communications for vehicles below 8500 pounds. The statute goes on to discuss other standards for heavier vehicles. What's unique about CAN? It's faster, but more importantly, it's a protocol that doesn't require a central computer. All the controllers get all the messages. It's kind of like having a bunch of people in a room yelling things out: everyone hears everything. And that's what you want in a car. However, the messages have to be interpreted by the controllers themselves, and that requires a separate &quot;higher-layer&quot; protocol. Electronic components need CAN to function, and if you have a car with electronic components, you need CAN in order to make it run. On the other hand, a vehicle can run without OBD--it's just a nice secondary feature to help diagnose system performance (and problems). It obtains access to component information like speed, RPM, fuel trim, etc. Likewise, that pesky &quot;check engine&quot; light gets activated by a diagnostic code. CAN is not mandatory for OBD. OBD is designed to use a number of different standards, and CAN is one of those (remember, light vehicles makes beginning with 2008 use CAN, but OBD is in use in other types of vehicles, too). At it's heart, OBD II is just another protocol: it specifies message format and the connector's pinout. In the best teaching document I've seen on the CAN vs. OBD subject, Michael Wen mentions you can often deduce which signaling protocol is in use by looking at the pins in the connector (remember, CAN should be standard for light vehicles after 2008, but you might see one of the other four formats in older vehicles). How do OBD and CAN work together? OBD sends messages over the CAN bus (that is, the vehicle bus with the CAN protocol). OBD basically queries components by sending specially formatted messages via the CAN bus. The components respond via the CAN bus. That information goes either to a warning light on the dashboard or to a diagnostic scanner attached to the connector.
There's the question whether something is lost property or abandoned property. You'd be allowed to keep abandoned property, but keeping lost property without looking for the owner is in many places considered theft. A car on your land is quite likely abandoned by the last driver (people don't usually lose cars). But the question is whether it is abandoned by the owner; if the car looks like it has some value then it is unlikely to be abandoned by the owner and more likely that it has been stolen. I'd report the car to the police; then it's up to them to find the owner or not. If they can find him, and the car was not abandoned, but actually lost (unlikely) or stolen (more likely), you have the satisfaction of being an honest person helping either a very stupid car owner or a crime victim to get their property back. If they can't find him, usually the property will then belong to the finder.
The short answer: The title is, more or less, a record of who &quot;owns&quot; the vehicle. It's you if you own it free and clear, the dealer if you're leasing it, and it depends what state you're in if you're financing the car. The registration is a permit to operate the vehicle. In all three situations above, you would hold the registration (you could also not register your vehicle if you're not using it, for instance by filing for a certificate of non-operation in California).
In germany, this is called &quot;Einzelbetriebserlaubnis&quot; (individual operation permit) or short EBE and is defined in StVZO §21. I was once involved in getting this for prototype/demonstration vehicles. In Germany, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (Federal Motor Transport Authority) KBA is handling all vehicle approvals. They require that an accredited authority, e.g. TÜV or DEKRA, check that you fulfill all requirements and present them with the paperwork. These authorities also have a service to guide you through the process. At least we would have been lost without their help. The costs for handling a single EBE summed up to 5 or 6 digits because it also includes renting of accredited test labs including accredited engineers.
Racing parts generally lack EWG certification and thus roadworthiness certificates A part needs to have an EWG registration number matching to the type of vehicle to be allowed to be used on a street-legal motorcycle. If a part has non street-legal parts, its whole registration usually is void. Driving a vehicle without a valid registration is illegal and generally not insured. Please check the regulator or the general information of insurance companies about what replacement parts have to comply with. Your insurance agency usually can help you too.