U.S. Issues Federal Policy on Testing, Deployment of Automated Vehicles

The U.S. Department of Transportation is laying the foundation for safe testing and deployment of automated vehicles, recently announcing federal policy related to the segment.

“Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken,” said Anthony Foxx, U.S. Transportation Secretary. “This policy is an unprecedented step by the federal government to harness the benefits of transformative technology by providing a framework for how to do it safely.”

The policy is broken into four key parts:

15 Point Safety Assessment –The Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles for manufacturers, developers, and other organizations includes a 15 point “Safety Assessment” for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles.
Model State Policy – This section presents a clear distinction between federal and state responsibilities for regulation of highly automated vehicles, and suggests recommended policy areas for states to consider in order to offer a consistent national framework for the testing and deployment of automated vehicles.
NHTSA’s Current Regulatory Tools –NHTSA’s current regulatory tools that can be used to ensure the safe development of new technologies, such as interpreting current rules to allow for greater flexibility in design and providing limited exemptions to allow for testing of nontraditional vehicle designs in a more timely fashion.
Modern Regulatory Tools – This discussion identifies new regulatory tools and statutory authorities that policymakers may consider in the future to aid the safe and efficient deployment of new lifesaving technologies.

The DOT is soliciting public comments for the next 60 days on the policy at www.transportation.gov/AV.

“Public input has been essential to getting this right. There has been a strong call from state and local governments, industry, safety experts, mobility advocates, and average Americans to establish a clear policy for the deployment of automated vehicles on our roads,” said Foxx. “There are huge upsides and significant challenges that come with automated vehicle technology, and we will continue the conversation with the public over the coming months and years as this technology develops.”