The House Energy and Commerce Committee is poised to vote on accelerating the testing and deployment of self-driving automobiles. Meanwhile, the legislation’s cap increase of 100,000 vehicles over a 12-month period and the hopes of the bill’s passage leading to eliminating “patchwork” of state laws affecting the design and construction raises eyebrows. Ohio Republican Representative Robert Latter reported concerns of privatizing the otherwise federal governmental control on vehicular design and inner workings, yet, discourages a world where fatalities are a calculated driving risk during a subcommittee’s markup session. If legislation passes, autonomous vehicle manufacturers must submit a cyber-security plan for detailing the vulnerabilities, continuous updates of regulations, and those responsible for its assurance.
Key Takeaways:
- The federal government wants to retain the responsibility of regulating autonomous vehicles and limit the states responsibilities to registration, titling and defining local traffic law.
- One aspect I did not necessarily consider was the cyber security issue associated with this technology. Regulation needs to consider and prioritize this.
- This bill helps reduce the red tape required to further the development of this technology and helps define the federal government and state government roles.
“The legislation seeks to reinforce federal regulatory authority over autonomous vehicle standards and restrict individual states from enforcing their own set of requirements affecting the vehicles’ mechanical, hardware and software systems.”