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Today, the House Energy and Commerce Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection (DCCP) Subcommittee voted unanimously to advance draft legislation backed by U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) to support the development and deployment of automated vehicles. The bipartisan draft bill establishes a working framework for the regulation of self-driving vehicles that would allow manufacturers to innovate and increase safety on the roads. It now moves to the full committee for consideration.

Video of today’s markup can be viewed here.

“With this legislation, we have the opportunity to reshape American manufacturing for decades to come,” Dingell said. “If we want the next great wave of manufacturing and R&D to take place in this country as opposed to overseas, then we need to have a strong but flexible regulatory framework for automated vehicles that always puts safety first. It is also clear that every Member, Democrats and Republicans, deeply care about cybersecurity and privacy. It is critical we get this right, and I want to thank Chairman Latta, as well as Ranking Members Schakowsky and Pallone for their hard work on this bipartisan legislation. Automated vehicles are going to be developed – the only question is where it will happen first. We want the United States to remain in the driver’s seat, and today’s draft bill is a major step in the right direction. I look forward to continuing our work toward introducing bipartisan, consensus legislation.”

In 2015, over 35,000 people died on our roadways and early estimates indicate the number could rise to over 40,000 in 2016. NHTSA estimates that 94 percent of highway crashes are due to human error. The development of automated vehicles has the potential to significantly reduce traffic fatalities in the United States.

The draft Highly Automated Vehicle Testing and Deployment Act of 2017 clarifies the federal and state roles for regulating highly automated vehicles (HAVs) to encourage the testing, development and deployment of HAVs in the United States. The legislation includes important safety provisions, including requiring the submission of safety assessment certifications by manufacturers of HAVs and requiring the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to initiate a rulemaking to develop new HAV standards. The legislation also requires manufacturers to develop a written cybersecurity plan that includes vulnerability detection and response practices and a process for controlling access to automated driving systems.