WASHINGTON — A federal regulator has declined a request to require automated vehicle (AV) developers and government agencies to submit test and safety data into an AV testing database, asserting that such a change to the present voluntary system would transcend this system’s scope.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association sought the change through comments filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. OOIDA stated that while it supported NHTSA’s Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Protected Testing (AV TEST) Initiative, the voluntary structure of this system prevents it from providing the general public “direct and easy accessibility” to information on AV testing, development and safety.
“The reliance on voluntary safety reporting from AV manufacturers won’t effectively construct public trust, acceptance, and confidence within the testing and deployment of those vehicles and can make it difficult for the agency to properly modify safety regulations,” OOIDA President and CEO Todd Spencer told the agency.
In a notice scheduled to publish on Friday, NHTSA responded that the target of the AV TEST Initiative is to offer the general public with “a centralized database of high-level details about ADS testing activities and state and native laws, recommendations, and initiatives.
“It’s, due to this fact, outside of the scope of the project to make any reporting mandatory or to expand the gathering to incorporate safety information or information that NHTSA would use to guage the protection of ADS [automated driving systems] operations.”
NHTSA’s response, nonetheless, “is a bit confusing,” said an OOIDA spokesman when asked to comment, declaring that it’s inside the agency’s purview to require safety data from AV developers and manufacturers.
He cited NHTSA’s 2021 amended Standing General Order on ADS — requiring manufacturers and operators of ADS vehicles to report crashes to the agency — by which the agency stated that, “Given the rapid evolution of those technologies and testing of latest technologies and features on publicly accessible roads, it’s critical for NHTSA to exercise its robust oversight over potential safety defects in vehicles operating with ADS and Level 2 ADAS.”
NHTSA’s contention that including safety information is outside the scope of the AV TEST Initiative can be somewhat contrary to how the corporate described this system when the agency rolled it out in June 2020.
The initiative “will provide a web-based, public-facing platform for sharing automated driving systems testing activities and other safety-related information with the general public,” NHTSA stated in its initial press release.
The agency noted on the time that nine corporations and eight states had signed on to participate. That has since grown to 19 states and 38 nonstate participants. NHTSA informed the Office of Management and Budget within the notice scheduled for Friday that it anticipates expanding to incorporate as much as 35 state or local government participants and 40 ADS developer, vehicle manufacturer or operator participants per 12 months.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, whose members include AV manufacturers and suppliers for the auto industry, pushed NHTSA to make higher use of the info it collects from those respondents.
“If leveraged appropriately, the knowledge collected as a part of the AV TEST Initiative can play a key role in informing policy decisions to assist advance the protected deployment of AVs,” the group stated in recent comments.