Administration Uses CES to Unveil AV 4.0 Principles
LAS VEGAS -- The Trump administration unveiled nonbinding guidelines for regulating driverless cars and trucks at CES in Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's Wednesday keynote. Industry officials told us the department floated the guidelines to such stakeholders Tuesday. The agency calls the guidelines Automated Vehicles 4.0 (AV 4.0). The White House also announced principles Wednesday to govern private sector artificial intelligence development.
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“AV 4.0 will ensure American leadership in AV technology development and integration by providing unified guidance for the first time across the Federal government for innovators and stakeholders,” Chao said. “The federal government is all in -- for safer, better and more inclusive transportation, aided by automated driving systems. ... Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives annually ... and would restore mobility for millions of people.” The document “unifies AV efforts across 38 federal departments,” Chao said.
“We want to create regulations which are flexible,” said U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. AI is evolving, he said. “The type of AI that was baked into products just three years ago is materially different than today and is going to be materially different than three years from now. If we start putting in regulations today that aren’t applicable years from now, we’re going to be stifling innovation.”
The AI principles “call on agencies to be considering issues related to bias, nondiscrimination, safety and trustworthiness when they approach regulations,” Kratsios said. “There’s still a lot of work.” Core R&D is needed, he said. “The U.S. is leading the world” on AI “and our efforts are to ensure that leadership,” Kratsios said: “We have the best universities in the world by far. The most dollars are invested in early stage startups. … We have the most highly cited or the best research.” Kratsios stressed the importance of public comment: “We don’t have all the answers in Washington. We can’t begin to just start blindly cutting out new rules.”
The AV principles “prioritize safety and security, promote innovation, and ensure a consistent regulatory approach,” DOT said: “It also outlines ongoing Administration efforts supporting AV technology growth and leadership, as well as opportunities for collaboration including federal investments in the AV sector and resources for innovators, researchers, and the public.”
“Improving traffic safety remains our greatest, ongoing transportation challenge,” Chao said. “It is heartening to see in recently released traffic crash data that 2018 marked the second consecutive year of declining crash fatalities. Initial data for the first three-quarters of 2019 indicate another yearly decline.”
AVs could “improve the quality of life through reduced traffic congestion, increased productivity and environmental benefits,” the secretary said. It’s easy to see “in displays at CES, on America’s roads, and in our skies, exciting transportation advancements are occurring,” Chao said.
“We are pleased to see Secretary Chao and the Trump administration prioritizing safety by continuing to advance self-driving car policies,” said House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “There is a clear global race to self-driving cars. To win that race, Congress must act immediately to establish a federal framework that provides innovators certainty and consumers safety.”
Tuesday, panelists said it’s difficult to predict when most vehicles on the road will be driverless, but it won’t happen soon. During the next five to 10 years, “you’re going to start to see more and more pilots” with a “larger and larger scale,” said Gerardo Interiano, head-government relations at self-driving car company Aurora. It’s impossible to say when the number will hit 50 percent, he said.
“We need to be very careful” with what is “very complex technology,” said Dee Williams, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration deputy associate administrator-vehicle safety research. “We need set realistic expectations for consumers. We need to build their trust and confidence.”
The U.S likely won't have mostly autonomous cars until at least 2040, said Jeff Brandes, Florida Republican state senator. “Everyone was hoping for the eureka moment” at past CESs, but “I think we’ve all sobered up,” he said: “We need to be focused on a variety of technologies.” Now, he noted, the emphasis is on electric vehicles.