On February 2, 2022, Cathy Chase, President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) testified before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Transit and Highways at a hearing, “The Road Ahead for Automated Vehicles.”
Chase urged Congress to take action to protect all road users who are currently on public roads being used for the testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs), including commercial motor vehicles (CMVs), and their deployment in the future. Chase’s oral remarks included the results of a new public opinion survey on AVs commissioned by Advocates. She also stressed the urgent need for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue performance standards for proven safety technology, such as automatic emergency braking (AEB), in all vehicles to prevent and mitigate crashes and save lives now.
“We are deeply concerned about the future of automated, or autonomous, vehicles (AVs). Currently, there are no federal performance standards for AVs, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), or partial automation convenience features,” Chase told the Subcommittee in a written statement. “Understandably, there is a great deal of confusion among the public about these different categories. In an actual AV, the car is taking over the entire driving task, unlike ADAS and convenience features where a driver always must be engaged in the driving task. There are no AVs available to consumers at this time.”
Chase continued, “The lack of strong government oversight, effective regulations, and industry accountability must change. Automated technology has the potential to be transformative in reducing our nation’s mounting highway death and injury toll. This Subcommittee and Congress can lead the way to accomplish this goal with targeted legislative directives requiring regulatory and industry actions to address identified problems.”
To read the entire statement submitted for the record to Congress CLICK HERE.