New Federal Guidelines For Autonomous Vehicles
Yesterday the U.S Department of Transportation (USDOT) issued a Federal Automated Vehicles Policy. The new policy ensures consistent safe testing and regulations for self-driving vehicles. Existing safety standards make it nearly impossible for manufacturers to certify automated vehicles. It makes sense, as the standards were made under the assumption there would be a human driving.
“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 U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a press release. “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.”
Fully autonomous vehicles will improve many aspects of transportation including:
Safety: As the majority of car crashes are the result of human error, this technology could save tens of thousands of lives.
Mobility: Autonomous vehicles would increase the mobility of those who cannot drive, including those with disabilities and the elderly.
Productivity: Not having to drive will give working people back their commute time.
Sustainability: Improving vehicle efficiency will lower carbon emissions.
The policy includes a 15 point safety assessment for manufacturers, developers and other organizations to guide the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles. Automakers are encouraged to sign and submit the assessment to certify that they are ready for the road. There are clear distinctions between state and federal responsibilities, and states are prevented from creating their own rules about what an automated vehicle must have to be permitted on the road, which is important for cities near state borders. The policy also outlines current and modern regulatory rules.
USDOT will also have the authority to recall self-driving cars. "NHTSA has the authority to identify safety defects, allowing the Agency to recall vehicles or equipment that pose an unreasonable risk to safety even when there is no applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)," the policy states.
Rear View Safety has always been on the cutting edge of the industry. We offer many products with features that are found in automated vehicles, including collision avoidance systems and the Lukas Dual Lens Dash Camera, which includes advanced driver assistance systems.
These policies aren’t just for consumer vehicles. Earlier this year, Google patented a self-driving delivery truck. Once the driverless truck arrives, the recipient of the package would simply punch in a code on the truck to remove their cargo. Just last month Uber purchased autonomous truck startup Otto. Ride sharing is already utilizing the technology, there are semi-autonomous Ubers in Pittsburg zipping around as I write this. Ford plans to have a fully autonomous vehicle for ride-hailing/ride sharing will be by 2021.
The policy is open to public comment for 60 days. If approved, it will be annually updated. Time will tell how these new regulations affect the autonomous vehicle timeline, or what changes will be made to this technology. Consumers will ultimately drive the market, but is the public ready to go fully autonomous?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYjxXfdBcs
