CTA, ITI Welcome Administration's FY 2017 Focus on Self-Driving Vehicles
The Obama administration wants to provide more money to help clear the way for self-driving vehicles, said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx Thursday in Detroit. The status quo is unacceptable, agreed Information Technology Industry Council President Dean Garfield. He and CTA President Gary Shapiro lauded the discussion about paving the way for the technologies. Connected vehicles have generated growing debate in recent years due to the spectrum required for intelligent transportation, and what some say are the hacking and privacy vulnerabilities inherent in the changing technologies.
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Foxx previewed portions of President Barack Obama’s FY 2017 budget, set for full release Feb. 9. The appropriations proposal will seek “nearly $4 billion over 10 years for pilot programs to test connected vehicle systems in designated corridors throughout the country, and work with industry leaders to ensure a common multistate framework for connected and autonomous vehicles,” the Department of Transportation said in a release. DOT is “removing potential roadblocks to the integration of innovative, transformational automotive technology that can significantly improve safety, mobility, and sustainability,” it said.
The Senate Commerce Committee already plans a hearing on the technology and the government's involvement. “The Department of Transportation’s announced readiness to remove obstacles for automated vehicle technology, while still prioritizing safety, is an opportunity for this administration and Congress to work together,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., Thursday. “I urge the administration to work collaboratively with both Congress and private sector innovators in setting program priorities. Early this year, as a continuation of our committee’s work to promote safety technologies and an innovation economy, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on developing automated vehicle technologies and how the federal government can play a constructive role."
“Today’s actions and those we will pursue in the coming months will provide the foundation and the path forward for manufacturers, state officials, and consumers to use new technologies and achieve their full safety potential,” Foxx said at the North American International Auto Show. He recently joined tech industry stakeholders at CES to announce a partnership with Mobileye as part of the Smart City Challenge.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a revamped policy statement on self-driving cars, Foxx said, updating the language from its 2013 guidance. The new guidance is under two pages long.
“The rapid development of emerging automation technologies means that partially and fully automated vehicles are nearing the point at which widespread deployment is feasible,” the guidance said. “Within six months, NHTSA will propose best-practice guidance to industry on establishing principles of safe operation for fully autonomous vehicles. … For policymakers at all levels, the governing principal [sic] should be that technologies with proven, data-supported benefits that would make roads safer should be encouraged. DOT/NHTSA is committing to proposing this model policy within six months.”
CTA’s Shapiro lauded that guidance in particular and agreed self-driving cars will be a coming reality. “While the benefits are immense, we must still address a number of policy and technology issues to ensure the success and mainstream adoption of autonomous vehicles,” Shapiro said. “We need to establish standards for highway signs and lights; devise new approaches to regulating spectrum, liability, insurance and safety; and consider revised highway rules, parking structures and car-ownership paradigms. CTA is encouraged by the federal government’s interest in driverless cars. Consistent collaboration between government and industry -- not top-down regulation that could stifle innovation and technology development -- will best answer these questions and address these challenges.”
“Initiatives like the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge are a starting point to help spur cities to think about -- and pursue -- a more tech savvy future for their communities,” Garfield said. “But for self-driving car technologies to truly take off, we will need to go beyond the current status quo. The current patchwork of state regulations was created for the last century, and when they fall short, they will limit the true potential of these new technologies. As our tech companies develop and road test new vehicle technologies, we'll be looking to the federal government to help be the bridge that is needed for self-driving cars to make the leap from being an R&D project to being in the marketplace and on the road.”
NHTSA will "work with state partners toward creating a consistent national policy on these innovations, provide options now and into the future for manufacturers seeking to deploy autonomous vehicles, and keep our safety mission paramount at every stage,“ said Administrator Mark Rosekind.