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Argo AI has modified the autonomous vehicles of Ford Motor Co. Fusion sitting in a garage located at the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh. Photographer: Justin Merriman / Bloomberg (Justin Merriman / Bloomberg)
The Trump administration has incorporated trucks into its new policy on driverless vehicles, saying it would "no longer assume" that a commercial vehicle driver must be a human or a trucker – or anyone else – must be in the cabin.
The Administration stated that it would facilitate the federal process to exempt trucks and other vehicles from existing safety standards that may preclude the use of automation, provided that companies can demonstrate that their vehicles are likely to be used. achieve an equivalent level of security. . "
Federal officials also announced a joint research effort by the Departments of Transportation, Labor, Trade and Health and Human Services to study the "personnel impacts" of driverless vehicles. State Secretary for Transportation, Elaine Chao, said she remained "extremely concerned" by the impact of increased automation on the country's workforce.
Transport officials also said they would look for ways to more broadly remove the obstacles faced by the federal, state, and local governments in deploying driverless vehicles, which they say will bring economic and security benefits.
This initiative comes as Waymo, a leading company in the field of self-driving, used to open a driverless service to the public in Arizona by the end of the year. . Federal guidelines were also taken as a result of the mistaken identification of an Uber SUV and the death of a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March. Uber had deactivated Volvo's automatic emergency braking system as part of its testing program, and the accident is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Updated federal "guidelines" now cover buses, public transit and trucks, and cars. They remain optional and place the responsibility for security on companies developing technologies rather than government regulations.
The guide, called Automated Vehicles 3.0, continues to ask companies to voluntarily describe why their vehicles are safe enough to drive on public roads, although so far only four of the many companies active in the field have made public these evaluations.
The Department of Transport's new approach addresses the recent high-profile accidents and what officials have acknowledged is skepticism about autonomous vehicles among a large segment of the population.
According to Tempe police investigators, the security driver, who was supposed to be closely watching Uber's behavior in Tempe, was indulging in NBC's "The Voice" movie as the accident approached. deadly.
A senior federal transport official said the government hoped companies would consider providing information on how they train and monitor their drivers.
[[[[Uber did not activate emergency braking when it hit a pedestrian, says NTSB]
The administration plans to launch new pilot programs to work with states and industry, and federal officials have said that such an effort on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could possibly throw the basics of a new regulation.
The law on self-driving cars has been blocked in the Senate and states have taken different measures. Arizona has adopted a more laissez-faire approach and California has required closer monitoring of driverless testing and operations in the state.
The skepticism of some senators and others about whether states would be excluded from their traditional driver supervision roles is a major drag, now that drivers no longer need to be human.
"Federal government's regulatory commitment creates mistrust [and] Willingness to control companies, "said Bryant Walker Smith, an assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina and a policy expert with no driver. "More than mistrust of technology is mistrust of business. . . And it's even mistrustful of the government's administrative ability to regulate, act like a check. "
The updated Automated Vehicles Policy indicates that the Ministry of Transport "will modernize or eliminate obsolete regulations that unnecessarily hamper the development of automated vehicles" and states that "national and local laws and regulations regarding automated vehicles create confusion , introduce obstacles and raise compliance issues. "
The 80-page policy document does not list all the specific regulations the authorities are seeking to eliminate or the local regulations that are supposed to create problems.
But Smith said he was struck by the Ministry of Transport's efforts to "give the green light to truck automation". The problem was so "political" that it was largely avoided in the Senate bill, he said. And this could become a flash point in relations with states.
"Truck automation could be an area in which state laws and local laws are actively anticipated, particularly if some states are more resilient to truck automation." I can see something of a showdown, "Smith said.
Advocates of the driverless industry say that there are many common-sense changes that could be made on the ground as a whole, such as eliminating the requirement that vehicles have a steering wheel, even when they are driven by computers using cameras and lasers.
Such changes would allow an ambitious overhaul of vehicles and could lead to a radical rethink of what cars look like and what people do. Automakers and technology companies have proposed building mobile motels, restaurants, and workspaces, or creating vehicles that can carry more people more efficiently and safely and lighten busy roads. But industry advocates say these efforts will be thwarted by outdated rules.
However, some security groups believe that federal policy and the potential regulatory changes could introduce new hazards.
The policy "will not guarantee the public that unproven, unreliable and unsafe autonomous vehicles" are kept off the roads, according to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which represents consumer and safety groups and insurance companies. Without the "real scrutiny" of the US Department of Transportation and "minimum performance standards" for autonomous vehicles, "the public will remain defenseless. Unfortunately, today's unenforceable guidelines are barely deaths and injuries. "
Uber has announced that it will soon join Waymo, General Motors, Ford and Nuro, an autonomous vehicle for delivering goods, offering a voluntary safety assessment.
Uber spokeswoman, Sarah Abboud, said the firm was still reviewing the updated guidelines, but "we appreciate the Ministry's commitment to align the government, the industry. and other stakeholders on the secure development of this technology. " The assessment will be published "in the coming weeks," she says.
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