A powerful US House panel on Thursday unanimously approved a first-of-its-kind bill to set federal rules for autonomous vehicles, making it easier for technologists and auto manufacturers to test experimental cars on public roads while preempting conflicting state regulatory frameworks.
By a vote of 54-0, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce advanced to the full chamber a sweeping proposal allowing car makers to skirt existing federal motor vehicle safety standards, deploying up to 25,000 exempt vehicles in the first year and as many as 100,000 annually over the space of three years.
Named the Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research in Vehicle Evolution (SAFE DRIVE) Act, the bill, which marks the first significant federal attempt to regulate autonomous vehicles, was heavily amended Wednesday night by a bipartisan quartet of four lawmakers after Democrats worried in an earlier subcommittee markup that the legislation’s safety carve outs were too broad.
Under the proposal, these new vehicles can qualify for exemptions from existing federal safety standards that require conventional controls (steering wheel and acceleration and braking pedals), but manufacturers would be required to demonstrate self-driving cars are “at least as safe” as existing vehicles.
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed for testing of 100,000 exempt vehicles within the first year.
The new framework would not require pre-market approval of experimental vehicles, but would instead spur the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop new safety thresholds within 18 months.
The full House of Representatives will consider the bill when it reconvenes in September. At the same time, the Senate is expected to introduce a suite of parallel proposals.
