As the end of summer nears, families across the country embark on road-trips to squeeze in one last vacation. Between keeping order among restless kids in the back seat and maintaining focus on the road, parents’ attention will be stretched thin. Autonomous vehicles would make the annual road trip easier, and a bill heading to the House floor could help to make what once seemed to be science-fiction speculation one step closer to reality.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has unanimously approved legislation that would delineate responsibility for regulation of autonomous vehicles between the different levels of government and make it easier for companies to test their products, potentially reducing the time it will take to bring them to the market. A less-restrictive or uncertain regulatory environment that spurs faster development in autonomous vehicles could deliver substantial benefits to the United States. Traffic fatalities exceeded 40,000 last year, and the proliferation of self-driving cars could substantially reduce that toll.
The bill, Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research in Vehicle Evolution Act, or SELF DRIVE Act, would prohibit state and local governments from implementing laws that would regulate the design, construction or performance of autonomous vehicles. This aspect of regulatory authority would instead fall under the purview of the federal government. State and local governments would continue to regulate other aspects such as licensing, registration, crash investigations, and congestion management “unless the law or regulation is an unreasonable obstruction” on autonomous vehicles.
Under the status quo, and in the absence of a clear framework, states have been moving to fill the void by putting their own regulations in place. Twenty states have passed some form of autonomous vehicle legislation, and in four additional states governors have issued executive orders.
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, “Autonomous Vehicles| Self-Driving Vehicles Enacted Legislation.”
Some states have moved in a more permissive direction to encourage manufacturers to test their products in those locations, but others had imposed additional or more stringent requirements. For example, New York still has a 1967 law that requires drivers to keep one hand on the wheel.
The uncertainty overhang and the patchwork effect of different regulations have led to an environment that could slow the development of autonomous vehicles.
If the bill passes the House and Senate and is signed into law by President Trump, then in two years the Secretary of Transportation would issue a final rule about the safety assessment certifications for companies involved in developing highly automated vehicles or automated driving systems. In the interim, safety assessment letters would be submitted to NHTSA, as detailed in a report it published last year, unless the administration releases updated guidance. Perhaps in recognition of how quickly existing regulations can become outdated, the bill also includes a provision requiring periodic review and updating at least every five years.
To a degree, the effect of the bill’s passage would depend upon the final rule developed by the Secretary. An overly prescriptive or restrictive rule could stifle further innovation. Similarly, the inclusion of provisions requiring manufacturers to devise and submit cybersecurity and privacy plans could prove another layer of onerous compliance.
The bill would grant companies exemptions for smaller-scale testing and pilot projects without being subject to the developed safety standards, with the most expansive exemption allowing a maximum of 100,000 cars introduced to the market in any 12-month period. The limit on the number of vehicles would ramp up to this upper bound, starting at 25,000 in the first year, then 50,000 in the second before eventually reaching 100,000.
The safety of autonomous vehicles is a major public concern. To qualify for an exemption, companies would have to provide analysis with on-road and testing data showing that specific features meet certain safety levels, and the overall vehicle provides a safety level at least equal to vehicles that are not granted an exemption and therefore subject to current safety standards.
The bill also directs the Secretary of Transportation to make a public searchable database of all the exemptions granted.
Even with improvements in traditional vehicles, the need for further developments remains keenly felt. The National Safety Council estimated that there were 1.25 deaths per million vehicle miles traveled in 2016, up three percent from the year before. Aside from the personal tragedy of lives lost or disrupted due to injury, traffic-related crashes and all of the related damages and losses impose a substantial cost on the economy, estimated to be about $430 billion.
An earlier report from NHTSA estimated that 94 percent of crashes were due to the driver. Autonomous vehicles could plausibly reduce the scope of these crashes, and the related costs.
After passing the House committee, the bill next has to come to the House for consideration, and no vote has yet been scheduled. Then it has to pass the Senate. The costs of stalled or hindered progress are high. Ideally, manufacturers would be allowed to test out their self-driving vehicles without a new raft of rules and regulation.
As more states are enacting their own different rules, the danger arises that manufacturers will find it too burdensome to navigate the patchwork of regulations, or would be overpowered by incumbent interests.
The effects of the bill, if eventually passed, will depend in large part on the rulemaking and implementation that follows. If regulators choose to reduce barriers to further developments in making driverless cars a reality, it would be a step in the right direction.
Charles Hughes is a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on twitter @CharlesHHughes.
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