NHTSA Proposes National Program For Autonomous Vehicles

Though autonomous vehicles haven’t quite taken over our roads as many expected them to years ago, a number of companies continue to work to perfect that technology, regardless. Currently, Waymo dominates the commercial autonomous robotaxi market, but Tesla is working on a rival, and Ford is considering one as well. Thus, it’s not terribly surprising to learn that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also wants to create a national program for vehicles that utilize autonomous technology, too.

The NHTSA has released a proposal for a voluntary national framework that would evaluate and oversee certain vehicles equipped with automated driving systems. The proposal – officially called the ADS-equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency, and Evaluation Program (AV STEP) – would establish a voluntary review and reporting framework for participating vehicles, and would be open to all companies that operate or plan to operate compliant ADS-equipped vehicles on public roads, as well as those requiring NHTSA exemptions to operate non-compliant vehicles. The goal of AV STEP is to promote greater transparency into participating ADS operations and help the agency study and oversee ADS technology as it matures.

“AV STEP would provide a valuable national framework at a pivotal time in the development of ADS technology. Safe, transparent, and responsible development is critical for this technology to be trusted by the public and reach its full potential. This proposal lays the foundation for those goals and supports NHTSA’s safety mission,” said NHTSA Chief Counsel Adam Raviv. “We encourage everyone to comment on our proposed program.” Once the proposed rule is published, the public will be able to submit comments that the agency will take into consideration before deciding whether or not to implement it.

The NHTSA has revised several of its existing rules and testing processes – while also launching new ones – over the past several months, too. The latest pertains to its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) five-star safety ratings, which just added four advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technologies designed to enhance crash avoidance – lane keeping assist, automatic emergency braking, blind sport warning, and blind spot detection systems.