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US DOT releases latest version of federal guidelines for automated vehicles
21 January 2020
The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) released
the latest version of automated vehicle guidelines, called
'Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies:
Automated Vehicles 4.0' (AV 4.0),' during the CES 2020 held earlier
this month in Las Vegas. According to a statement by the DOT, the
latest version unifies efforts in automated vehicles across 38
Federal departments, independent agencies, commissions, and
Executive Offices of The President "providing high-level guidance
to state and local governments, innovators, and all stakeholders on
the US government's approach towards AVs."
The document offers federal
principles for the development and integration of autonomous
vehicles and is intended to provide guidance for those developing
and regulating these vehicles. It also outlines ongoing
administration efforts supporting AV technology growth. The
guidelines focus on three key areas of prioritizing safety and
security, promoting innovation, and ensuring a consistent
regulatory approach.
"AV 4.0 brings all of the important work happening on automated
vehicle technologies across the federal government under one
unified approach. The federal principles released today help foster
an environment for innovators to advance safe AV technologies, and
put the United States in a position of continued leadership in the
future of transportation," said Michael Kratsios, CTO of the United
States and Deputy Assistant to the President at the White House
Office of Science and Technology.
Significance: The AV 4.0 builds on the earlier
three versions of automated vehicle guidelines released in 2016,
2017 and 2018. In September 2016, the United States became the
first country in the world to
publish guidelines for development and deployment of autonomous
vehicles on its public roads. The document also outlined the
regulatory areas over which US federal government and states would
have jurisdictions.
One year later, the DOT released a
second set of guidelines for autonomous vehicle development
called 'Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety'. The
new guidelines replaced the first documents and included key
changes to sections covering the voluntary compliance guidelines
for automakers and best practices for US state
governments—encouraging US states to work with the federal
guidelines rather than imposing more strict policies.
In October 2018, the DOT issued the
third version of guidelines for autonomous vehicles called
'Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles
3.0,' or 'AV 3.0'. The third set of guidelines addressed further
integration issues not covered by the prior releases. The AV 3.0
did not supersede the AV2.0 but supplemented V2.0 by covering
integration and system issues. The second set of guidelines,
regarding testing procedures, remained in place.
Regarding the latest version AV 4.0, the DOT said that the
guidelines ensure "a consistent United States Government (USG)
approach to AV technologies, and to detail the authorities,
research, and investments being made across the USG so that the
United States can continue to lead AV technologies' research,
development, and integration. The US DOT and the White House Office
of Science and Technology Policy have invited public comment on the
document.
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