- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Thursday that it will change its rules to make it easier for companies to deploy autonomous vehicles on public roads.
- The Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, previously restricted to imported AVs, is now open to domestically built AVs, such as Tesla’s upcoming Cybercab.
- NHTSA also said it was removing “unnecessary and duplicative requirements” for its reporting process for crashes involving AVs and advanced driver assistance systems.
Autonomous vehicles have already been crawling around urban centers in the U.S. for years. Uber tested self-driving Volvos in Pittsburgh for several years until 2020, General Motors’ Cruise used autonomous Chevy Bolts in the Bay Area before the division was shuttered, and Waymo still maintains its San Francisco fleet of self-driving Jaguar I-Paces. But you soon might see even more robotaxis on public streets, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announcing revised rules for autonomous vehicle testing that will make it easier for automakers to deploy self-driving cars and also relaxed crash reporting requirements.The new policy was revealed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, who stated that “this administration understands that we’re in a race with China to out-innovate” and that “our new framework will slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard that spurs innovation and prioritizes safety.” NHTSA says that the new principles will lead to a modernization of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), thus allowing for the “safe commercial deployments of AVs.” Notably, NHTSA specifies commercial use, suggesting that personal use of self-driving cars is still further away and these rules will focus on robotaxis for ride-hailing services. TeslaTesla Cybercab was revealed last year alongside the Robovan, although there are no official plans yet to deploy the self-driving bus.While NHTSA says it will keep its “Standing General Order on Crash Reporting” for automated vehicles and vehicles with certain advanced driver-assistance systems, the agency stated that it will get rid of “unnecessary and duplicative requirements” for the reporting process. The agency didn’t provide further details about how the process will change.NHTSA also says that it is expanding the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, which previously only included imported AVs, to now be open to domestically produced autonomous vehicles. The program allows companies to run noncompliant vehicles on U.S. roads, which NHTSA says “has promoted vehicle innovation and safety.”The revised rules are critical for Tesla, which plans to launch a fleet of Cybercabs—the company’s new robotaxi that does away with a steering wheel and pedals—in Austin, Texas, this summer. The new exemption program rules will make it easier for Tesla to deploy the U.S.-made Cybercab, since the lack of physical controls means it doesn’t meet the FMVSS rules.Tesla CEO Elon Musk—who also serves as a senior advisor to President Trump and as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—has long called for new rules regarding AVs and has critiqued crash-reporting requirements, which have come into play on a series of high-profile incidents of Teslas using the Autopilot system. According to a report by the Financial Times, DOGE dismissed around 30 NHTSA workers in February, many of whom worked in the realm of vehicle automation safety. The report also stated NHTSA workers are increasingly concerned about conflicts of interest between Musk’s roles at DOGE and Tesla.More on Self-Driving CarsCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Source: caranddriver.com
