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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday reported that a a new world order which would make it easier for companies to deploy autonomous vehicles without traditional controls – such as a steering wheel, pedals, and side mirrors.
The guidelines also require AV companies to share safety information with the agency.
The AV industry has been waiting for NHTSA’s proposal since last year, when the agency proposed the first ADS-Equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency and Evaluation Program, known as AV STEP. The purpose of the program, among other things, was to allow NHTSA to greenlight the sale and marketing of self-driving cars that do not comply with federal safety regulations due to lack of manual controls.
Today, fully equipped autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate on public roads without NHTSA oversight. But any AVs that cannot be handled by a human driver must be released to the agency.
Unless, of course, they are Zoox. Amazon has been saying it doesn’t need an exemption from NHTSA because it “guarantees” the safety of its vehicles – which the agency says. diligent search.
Zoox, which recently started releasing like toast traffic in San Franciscoisn’t the only AV company that wants to ditch the steering wheel and pedals. trip, before it goes down, he made a production Introductionpurpose-built robotaxi, at scale. The electric and independent company Einride wants to make a commercial a AV carrier which does not even have a driver’s cab, not even pedals. And Tesla unveiled its two-door robotaxi model in October, which plans to start production in 2025 or 2026, according to CEO Elon Musk.
NHTSA’s program is voluntary and will give participants “an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the transparency of their vehicles and their operations” by submitting regular safety reports.
The AV STEP program consists of two parts – one for human-built vehicles, with reverse engineering that can be controlled by humans; and another for vehicles built without such controls. As more of the latter begin to flood public roads, NHTSA hopes that the program and data reports will make the agency better prepared “to deal with the dangers that may arise from their deployment.”
To qualify for the program, companies will need to provide safety data on the “design, development, and operation” of their AVs. Once approved, participants will be required to submit regular and trigger reports, such as accident reports, to NHTSA — all of which the agency would be entitled to publish in the name of transparency.
NHTSA’s call for more information comes as President Donald Trump’s transition team has signaled its desire eliminate the Biden-era requirement for car accident reporting that Musk and Tesla oppose. Tesla has the largest share of the self-driving car market in the US, and as such, most of the reported accidents are from Teslas. Tesla has been targeted in several NHTSA investigations, some of which stemmed from about 1,500 accidents the automaker reported to federal safety regulators.
It remains to be seen whether vandalism reports for AVs will be phased out under the Trump administration, but NHTSA says it wants to gather such information to keep up with the industry’s fast-moving efforts in hopes of one day establishing minimum standards for AV systems.
Supporters of other companies say the proposed plan was premature. Cathy Chase, President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said the request was released shortly after NHTSA released a study on how federal safety regulations have helped save more than 860,000 lives from 1968 to 2019.
“Expanding the deployment of ADS – and without the protections provided by FMVSS – at this time seems premature and there is no independent research and data to support the project,” Chase said. words.
