Advocates for self-driving car safety eye slowdown on regulations
Safety and consumer advocates had two words of advice Tuesday as Congress debates bills that would allow sweeping changes in the regulation of selfdriving vehicles: Slow down.
They said during a national teleconference Tuesday that pending legislation could endanger the public in the rush to deploy vehicles with self-driving technology, especially one provision that would increase the legal number of test vehicles on the road to 50,000 from 2,500.
The House of Representatives already has passed one bill that limits regulation of the vehicles and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is expected to begin discussing a similar bill Wednesday.
The bills to set limited federal standards are of particular interest in the Pittsburgh area, where Uber, Delphi and Argo AI are testing self-driving vehicles. In general, the bills would reduce restrictions on technology companies and car manufacturers as they develop self-driving vehicles and would limit the ability of individual states to set their own standards.
The Senate bill, known as the American Vision for Safer Transportation through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies Act, “lacks adequate government oversight” and takes a “hands-off” approach to regulating the industry, said Jackie Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Her group
organized the teleconference, which included representatives from five consumer or safety groups, an emergency room doctor and Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., who sit on the commerce committee.
“We don’t really see the rush to do this,” Ms. Gillan said. “Let’s slow down and get this right.”
One of the key provisions of the Senate bill would increase the number of test vehicles allowed on the road to 50,000 initially and 100,000 in the future. Industry’s position is that it needs additional test vehicles to properly vet the technology.
Joan Claybrook, an administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under President Jimmy Carter, called that “an argument, not a fact-based position.” Adding that many test vehicles to the roadways unnecessarily makes other motorists “the crashtest dummies” for the industry, she said.
Mr. Markey said he would introduce amendments to require education for drivers so they understand the limitations of selfdriving vehicles; to mandate cybersecurity standards so hackers can’t control brakes, speed and steering on smart vehicles; and to protect drivers from distribution of personal information gathered inside their vehicles.
Ms. Gillan conceded the groups “feel like we’re swimming upstream” in the effort to strengthen regulations for self-driving vehicles, possibly a reflection of the current anti-regulation sentiment in Washington.
“We’ve seen provisions that have no safety concerns at all,” said William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union. “I don’t think we would have that in a different environment.”
In response to the teleconference, David Strickland, general counsel for the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, said in a statement that limited federal regulation is needed to prevent “a 50-state patchwork of regulations, and we need an expanded exemption process that enables the safe advancement of this technology.”