Experts interviewed by Consumer Watchdog say little is publicly known about Uber’s testing protocols, safety standards, or vehicle specifications. “There are a lot of unknowns,” said Bryant Walker-Smith, an associate professor in the School of Law and the College of Engineering and Computing at the University of South Carolina, in January. “Uber is running a prototype that it started testing last month. We don’t know what safety standards, if any, Uber is adhering to. We don’t know the specs of the car. We don’t know about their internal testing. We don’t know cost of production.” At recent Senate hearings, lawmakers also raised concerns about autonomous vehicles being monitored by remote operators overseas, so-called “trans-Atlantic backseat drivers,” who are not covered by existing regulatory frameworks.