US lawmakers struggle to find deal on self-driving cars

The US Congress nonetheless faces critical hurdles to successful approval for long-stalled laws to hurry the adoption of self-driving vehicles.

“China is currently moving ahead with ambitious plans to lead the development and deployment of this technology,” mentioned House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers at a listening to Wednesday. “We cannot trust the Chinese Communist Party to set the standards for this industry and we certainly cannot trust them to protect our data and individual rights.”

Republicans and a few Democrats need quick motion, elevating considerations that China might surpass the United States in deploying vehicles with out human drivers. Safety teams, plaintiffs’ legal professionals and labor unions are elevating considerations concerning the laws.

Representative Frank Pallone, the highest Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, mentioned on the listening to we “cannot simply dust off six-year-old legislation and ignore the substantial issues that have emerged in recent years…. Liability loopholes are emerging. Workforce impacts are becoming more apparent.”

Autonomous automobile (AV) laws in Congress has been stalled for greater than six years. Proposals would enable automakers to acquire exemptions to deploy tens of 1000’s of automobiles with out assembly current auto security requirements.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mentioned on July 12 it’ll quickly determine on a petition filed by General Motors’ Cruise self-driving expertise unit looking for permission to deploy as much as 2,500 self-driving automobiles yearly with out human controls, the utmost permitted underneath present regulation.

Advocates say AVs have the potential to cut back visitors deaths, develop mobility entry to the disabled, scale back parking wants in congested cities and minimize greenhouse gasoline emissions. Transport Workers Union president John Samuelsen mentioned employees are deeply involved that “major AV developers have an unambiguous plan to rush driverless vehicles onto our roads and into our public transit systems without safety standards or adequate failsafes.”

Alliance for Automotive Innovation chief government John Bozzella, a commerce group representing main automakers, instructed the panel that with out motion from Congress, “our nation risks becoming dependent on foreign sources in a future defined by others.”

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