The development and deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) offers the potential to increase equity by providing mobility-as-a-service and enable tremendous societal benefits by improving roadway safety through the reduction in frequency and severity of automobile crashes and increasing access to transportation for all people, including people with disabilities, older adults, and others who cannot currently drive themselves. AVs can significantly enhance the safety and efficiency of goods movement, create jobs, and help better meet consumer demand while promoting innovation and growth across various sectors of the economy. AVs may likewise, if deployed strategically, mitigate other inefficiencies of current motor vehicle use, such as congestion.
TechNet supports policies that encourage the safe and efficient deployment of AVs on public roads in the United States. These policies include the promotion of and investment in infrastructure and other architecture that will enable and accelerate AV operations. TechNet also supports systems that promote access to publicly available data on road and traffic conditions.
TechNet is concerned that well-intentioned state policy frameworks could unintentionally stifle innovation and impede the safety and other benefits of this technology. As such, states should avoid adopting policies that will create, increase, or maintain barriers to the testing, development, and deployment of this technology and the benefits that come with it.
The state program supports the following principles:
- State policymakers should prioritize harmonization between jurisdictions to avoid a patchwork of policies that may stifle innovation. They should avoid establishing vehicle performance standards, safety regulations, or certifications that conflict with federal law, regulations, or AV guidance. A patchwork of policies will stifle or impede innovation.
- Frameworks, regulations, and constructs that restrict competition or limit operation of AVs to only one segment of innovators or automotive technologies should be avoided. Policies should be technology-neutral and foster continued innovation in the industry, avoid picking winners and losers, prioritize public safety, and protect intellectual property.
- A human operator inside an AV for operation, testing, and deployment should not be required. Policymakers should not predetermine how the technology will develop or legislate technology by specifying the role of a human in its development.
- Local ordinances, or other formal local sign-off, as a prerequisite for testing or deployment within a state should not be required. TechNet believes that a patchwork of local laws and regulations would be unnecessarily burdensome and could impede travel between jurisdictions.
- Encourage states to follow the guidelines and best practices outlined in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0.”
- The operation of AVs in the state should be subject to the same accident and operating reporting requirements as human-driven vehicles, but no more. Federal reporting laws are sufficient to address the states’ interest in assessing road safety.
- Governments should support policies that promote the growth of and investment in AV operations.
- State laws and regulations should be updated to remove legal barriers to driverless deployment of AVs on public roads, including vehicles with purpose-built designs.
- Use of definitions and terminology consistent with the SAE J3016 (April 2021).
- Vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are not AVs, and TechNet works to educate policymakers on the unique and distinct nature of both ADAS and AVs. State laws should prohibit vehicles equipped with ADAS from being advertised as AVs.
- Avoiding special or unique permitting, licensing, insurance, or registration requirements specific to for AV operations.
- Seeking and maintaining existing laws on liability, unless and until the need for change is demonstrated.
- Bills and regulations should provide a clear path to the commercial, driverless deployment of AVs.
- Government should not mandate the sharing of businesses’ data that it cannot adequately analyze and use to promote further innovation.
- Create a line of communication and provide industry expertise to various state AV task forces. Prioritize state AV task forces that are actively considering legislative proposals that may impede AV innovation.
- Policymakers should avoid any regulations that limit or delay the use of AVs in public transportation systems. Limiting AVs in public transportation will deny mobility benefits to the riders that need it most.
- Policymakers should view autonomous vehicles and related technology as job creators, with the AV industry playing a critical role in enhancing state and local economies, economic competitiveness, and opportunity overall.