Autonomous Vehicles and Connected Vehicles

Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) enable tremendous societal benefits by improving road safety, increasing access to transportation for all, enhancing efficiency of goods movement, creating jobs, helping to reduce congestion, and meeting consumer demand, while promoting innovation and growth across various sectors of the economy. 

Accordingly, TechNet supports policies that encourage the safe and efficient deployment of AVs on public roads in the United States.  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 of laws between jurisdictions to avoid a patchwork of policies that may stifle or impede innovation. They should avoid establishing vehicle and equipment design and performance standards, safety regulations, or certifications that conflict with federal law, regulations, or guidance.
• State regulatory frameworks that restrict competition or limit operation of AVs to only one segment of innovators or automotive technologies should be avoided. Policies should be business model and 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 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. 
• States should follow the guidelines and best practices outlined in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “Automated Driving Systems: A Vision for Safety 2.0” and “Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0.”
• The operation of AVs in a state should be subject to the same accident and operating reporting requirements as human-driven vehicles. Federal reporting requirements are sufficient to address the states’ interest in assessing AV and road safety.
• 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.
• State policy should include the promotion of and investment in the broader AV ecosystem that supports accelerated AV deployments, including AV-related technologies, infrastructure, and other architecture that will enable and accelerate AV operations.
• States should promote policies that lead to a clear pathway to driverless commercial operations.
• TechNet also supports systems that promote access to publicly available data on road and traffic conditions.
• State policies should use definitions and terminology consistent with 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.
• States should avoid special or unique permitting, licensing, insurance, or registration requirements specific to AV operations.
• States should maintain 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.
• Governments should not mandate the sharing of businesses’ data that they cannot adequately analyze and use to promote further innovation.
• States should create a line of communication and provide industry expertise to various state AV task forces.
• 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 AVs 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.
• In general, policymaking should not form a distinction between AVs and human-operated vehicles unless there is a clearly articulable rationale.

Connected Vehicles

Connected vehicle technology has the potential to revolutionize transportation, making our roads safer, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly.  TechNet supports policies that advance connected vehicle technology through investment in the research, development, and deployment of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology.

• States should partner with the federal government and private stakeholders to support the Department of Transportation’s V2X Deployment Plan, including the near-, mid-, and long-term goals directed at infrastructure owners and operators.
• States should include V2X technologies in transportation budgets beyond pilot projects and demonstrations.
• States should, where relevant, include V2X in any roadway infrastructure plans or projects and any grant applications to the federal government.
• Public and private sector stakeholders, including federal, state, local, and tribal governments, as well as industry and research organizations, should collaborate and coordinate on connected vehicle policy, development, and deployment.
• States should support both Network and Direct V2X technologies, recognizing the unique ways in which both can contribute to safer roadways.