The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday proposed a new national framework This could make it easier for companies to deploy autonomous vehicles at scale without traditional manual driving controls, like steering wheels, pedals and mirrors.
The guidelines also require AV companies to share significantly more safety data with the agency.
The AV industry has been waiting for NHTSA's proposal since last year, when the agency first proposed the ADS-equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency and Assessment Program, known as AV STEP. The goal of the program was, among other things, to allow NHTSA to greenlight the sale and marketing of autonomous vehicles that fail to meet federal safety standards due to a lack of manual controls.
Today, autonomous vehicles with all their manual parts are allowed to operate on public roads without NHTSA oversight. But all commercial vehicles that cannot be handled by a human driver must receive an exemption from the agency.
Unless of course it's Zoox. The Amazon-owned company argued that it did not need an exemption from NHTSA because it had “self-certified” the safety of its vehicles – a claim the agency says is actively investigating.
Zoox, which recently began rolling out its toaster-like system vehicles in San Franciscois not the only audiovisual company seeking to lose the steering wheel and the pedals. Cruise, before it sinks, planned to deploy the Originits specially designed, full-scale robotaxi. The electric and autonomous trucking company Einride intends to market a AV Cargo Pod there isn't even a driver's cabin, let alone pedals. And Tesla revealed its two-door robotaxi prototype in October, with production expected to start in 2025 or 2026, according to CEO Elon Musk.
NHTSA's proposed program is a voluntary program that would give participants “the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to transparency in their vehicles and operations” by providing regular safety reports.
The AV STEP program has two tiers: one for vehicles built with human controls, with backup designs that can be operated by humans; and another for vehicles built without such controls. As more of these begin flooding public streets, NHTSA hopes the program and data reporting will make the agency better equipped to “address emerging risks associated with their deployment.”
To be eligible for the program, companies will be required to submit data relating to the safety of the “design, development and operation” of their commercial vehicles. Once admitted, participants will be required to submit periodic and event-triggered reports, such as accident reports, to NHTSA, which the agency would be free to publish in the name of transparency.
NHTSA's call for more data comes as President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has signaled its desire to rescind a Biden-era requirement for reporting car accidents which Musk and Tesla oppose. Tesla has the largest market share of vehicles with automated driving features in the United States, and as such, the majority of total reported accidents come from Tesla. Tesla has been the target of several NHTSA investigations, some of which stemmed from the nearly 1,500 accidents the automaker reported to federal safety regulators.
It's too early to say whether accident reporting for AVs will be eliminated under the Trump regime, but NHTSA says it wants to collect such data so it can track the industry's rapid changes in anticipation of the one day establishing minimum standards for the performance of audiovisual vehicles.
Some industry advocates say the proposed framework is premature. Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, noted that the proposal was released shortly after NHTSA released a series of studies touting the effect of federal safety standards in saving more than 860,000 lives from 1968 to 2019.
“Expanding ADS deployment – and without the safety protections provided by FMVSS – appears premature at this time and lacks independent research and data to support action,” Chase said in a statement . statement.
#Feds #clear #robotaxis #steering #wheels #pedals