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Michigan may soon become the first state to allow self-driving cars on the road without a human driver sitting behind the steering wheel. Lots of companies are already testing self-driving cars on the road all over the country, but they have an actual driver at the controls, ready to take over if there is a hazard. Now a bill in Michigan proposes to allow these cars to hit the road without a human at the wheel. The legislation is being proposed as an economic development measure to keep and attract research and development jobs in the state. The state senate's economic development committee will hold a hearing on the bill on Wednesday, and its sponsor says it has bipartisan support that should make passage fairly easy. Related: Your next Uber could be self-driving "I want to make sure we plant the flag here and we maintain the lead in terms of automotive research and development," said Mike Kowall, the Republican state senator who introduced the measure. Kowall said the bill would allow the self-driving cars on any roads in the state, including interstates and U.S. highways. He said there's no federal law prohibiting the cars, but that right now every state requires a car to have a driver. The Michigan law even specifies who is on the hook if a self-driving car has an accident -- according to Kowall, the liability will rest with the automaker and its suppliers. Related: True self-driving cars will arrive in 5 years, says Ford Every major automaker is working on self-driving car technology, as are several tech companies such as Google (GOOGL, Tech30). Earlier this month Ford (F) predicted it would be mass producing a self-driving car without a steering wheel, brake pedal or accelerator within five years. But the safety of self-driving cars has come into question recently, especially after a driver was killed in May while using Tesla's Autopilot feature. There have been a handful of other, non-fatal accidents with Teslas that were in Autopilot. Tesla says it advises drivers to stay alert and ready to take control when using Autopilot. It also said that its car owners have used Autopilot to drive more than 130 million miles and this is the only fatality that has occurred, making its track record safer than that of a typical driver. There were more than 35,000 traffic fatalities on U.S. roads last year, and U.S. safety regulators say that 94% of those accidents were caused by driver error.

Flint: No trash collection after contract expires Flint has been dealing with water issues since 2014. Now residents have been told their trash won't be picked up. (CNN)Flint, Michigan, a city known for its water crisis, may have another noxious situation on its hands. There will be no trash collection in the city until further notice, according to a statement from Flint Mayor Karen Weaver. City residents have been instructed to not put their garbage out on the curb for collection, because no one will pick it up, at least for now. Flint city leaders, including Weaver and the Flint City Council, have yet to secure a new waste collection contract for the city. Their previous service agreement, with a company called Republic Services, has expired. "Due to the circumstances, there will be no trash pickup in the city starting this Monday," the statement read. "Until a new agreement is officially in place, we ask that residents not set their trash out at the curb." Weaver hopes to resolve the issue by sometime this week, according to her statement. Flint City Council President Kerry L. Nelson said in a statement that "the interruption of waste collection services in the city of Flint is exclusively the decision of Mayor Karen Weaver." Flint has been ravaged by a water crisis for years. In 2014, in a move to save money, the state of Michigan switched Flint's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a tributary notorious for its filth. The Department of Environmental Quality failed to treat the corrosive water, which ate into the city's iron and lead pipes, causing lead to leach into the drinking water. Last year, researchers and medical personnel discovered high levels of lead in Flint residents, especially children. Lead has been tied to a host of medical problems, especially in the nervous system. On Friday, six current and former state employees, including the woman in charge of drinking water quality, were charged in a widening criminal investigation into the crisis. The allegations show a concerted effort to cover up warning signs of lead poisoning, according to prosecutors. The investigation, so far encompassing more than 200 interviews and nearly eight months, is not over. Additional charges could be forthcoming, state Attorney General Bill Schuette told reporters, comparing the matter to a mob investigation, which never starts "at the top."