If the framework survives the Trump administration, it could provide transparency into self-driving vehicles—and could help consumers grow more accustomed to them.\nThe Biden Administration’s highway safety regulator proposed a long-awaited framework for oversight into the production and commercialization of self-driving vehicles.\nCalled the ADS-equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency, and Evaluation Program (AV STEP), the voluntary reporting framework represents an effort to deepen the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s oversight of self-driving vehicles. (ADS stands for “automated driving systems” and refers to automated vehicles that handle some or all of the driving process.) It also presents a way to ease the onerous process by which makers of ADS-equipped vehicles seek exemptions for certain safety requirements that govern traditional vehicles. But the eleventh-hour timing of the framework—and its emphasis on transparency—raise doubts about its viability under a Trump presidency.\n“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,” Adam Raviv, NHTSA Chief Counsel, said in a press release.\nFederal regulators have by and large taken a hands-free approach to regulating self-driving vehicles, leaving it to the states, The Verge reported. This proposed framework seeks to fill that void. Among its objectives is creating a new process for safety exemptions for vehicles equipped with automated driving systems.\nFEATURED VIDEO\nThe Man Behind the Wheel of Driverless Trucks\nThe Man Behind the Wheel of Driverless Trucks\n0 seconds of 1 minute, 49 secondsVolume 0%\nThe Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards are a list of requirements a vehicle must meet in order to be sold to a consumer. It includes features that self-driving vehicles don’t really need such as side mirrors, steering wheels and pedals. To make and operate vehicles without some of those critical features, automakers must request exemptions in a difficult and lengthy process. So far, only California-based Nuro successfully received an exemption for a driverless delivery vehicle, The Verge reported. However, after a difficult couple of years and multiple rounds of layoffs, Nuro has since pivoted its business model to instead licensing out its self-driving technology, instead of building its own fleet of vehicles, according to TechCrunch.\nIn its announcement, NHTSA also emphasized a transparency aspect of the program. Participating companies would be required to offer up data “related to the safety of the design, development, and operations of ADS-equipped vehicles,” according to NHTSA’s notice, which also specifies a process for keeping that data secure. The effort is meant to promote “responsible development of ADS technology,” and offer vehicle manufacturers and operators, municipalities, researchers and policymakers “greater opportunities for public awareness and accelerated learning into the technology,” the press release states.\nAutoPacific manager of product and consumer insights Robby DeGraff says that it is important to remember that the industry is still “many, many years away” from “fully-autonomous vehicles that offer tried-and-true self-driving capability for consumers.”\nThere are various levels of autonomy that determine to what degree a vehicle actually drives itself. Level 1 and level 2 autonomous vehicles are already driving on U.S. roads. Vehicles with level 1 autonomy contain features like adaptive cruise control or lane assistance, whereas vehicles with level 2 autonomy provide assistance with tasks like acceleration, braking, and steering. Level 3 cars drive themselves under certain conditions so long as the driver is available to take over, but are only available in certain states. Level 4 and 5 vehicles do not require people to operate, but are not yet commercially available in the U.S.\nHaving a framework like AV STEP, DeGraff says, could serve the important role of getting consumers more comfortable with fully autonomous vehicles when the time comes.\n“NHTSA’s requirements and rules can be very out-of-reach for automakers, and the agency as a whole tends to be very outdated and behind the times with its rationale for ruling and in keeping in pace with just how fast the industry itself moves,” DeGraff says in an email. “The concept of having these guidelines in place is a good early step into ensuring these AV systems are indeed safe, and requiring automakers with AV systems to submit data should help boost consumer confidence in this technology.”\nWhether or not the initiative remains under President-elect Donald Trump, however, is an open question. Trump’s transition team indicated in November it was planning to release its own framework for autonomous vehicles. The team has also indicated its intention to overturn a Biden-era transparency measure that requires self-driving vehicles (or those with some form of driver assistance features) to report crashes and related injuries to the government, Reuters reported. Given that Tesla has reported the highest number of crashes, overturning that rule could benefit Tesla CEO and close Trump ally Elon Musk.”,
