In comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), SAFE applauds the agency’s initiative to update legacy standards that present barriers to the deployment of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) that have novel and unconventional designs. This includes vehicles that will not have a driver or manually operated driving controls – and even those that will carry property instead of passengers.
SAFE firmly believes that this proposed rulemaking is necessary, urgent, and squarely in the public interest. Modernizing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and those that will follow, are essential to realizing the significant potential for vehicle automation to increase traffic safety, efficiency, fuel diversity, economic productivity and growth, and mobility access.
