PennDOT advises self-driving companies

Collecting data under voluntary guidelines

After meeting with more than a dozen firms in the selfdriving technology space over the past three months — plus discussions with the state’s Autonomous Vehicles Policy Task Force, which includes the city of Pittsburgh — the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has issued its official guidance for safety oversight of highly automated vehicles.

The move comes the same day that Uber reinstated its selfdriving vehicles on public roads following a four-month hiatus. In March, a pedestrian in Arizona was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber in autonomous mode, expediting public policy conversations regarding the robot cars.

In April, just three weeks after the crash, PennDOT issued the first iteration of its voluntary guidelines, asking stakeholders in the self-driving space — like Uber, Argo AI, Aurora Innovation and Aptiv — to submit a “notice of testing” that includes basic company information.

The department also asked any companies under federal investigation to suspend its cars from public roads. Uber voluntarily did so in March.

Richard Kirkpatrick, press secretary for PennDOT, said that gathering data from testers on public roads in the state is vital to ensure safety.

Data will be collected on a semiannual basis, according to the guidance, and includes the approximate miles traveled by a company’s automated vehicles in the state; the type of roadway where that testing occurred; counties where the vehicles were tested on public roadways; the approximate number of employees; the number of jobs added due to testing; and facilities constructed, purchased or rented as a result of testing.

The guidance will go into effect Aug. 1, Mr. Kirkpatrick said, but he did not have a specific date for when self-driving companies must submit their “notice of testing” and relevant information.

To become obligatory, the Pennsylvania General Assembly must approve the guidelines.

“We are taking an active role in ensuring [highly automated vehicle] testing is done as safely as possible,” Leslie S. Richards, secretary of PennDOT, said in a statement.

“While we await legislative action on our request for permanent authorization, our new guidance underscores our expectation that companies are taking every possible step to prepare their vehicles and personnel for on-the-road testing.”