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Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to advance legislation backed by U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) that supports the development and deployment of automated vehicles. The bipartisan SELF DRIVE Act establishes a framework for the regulation of self-driving vehicles that would allow manufacturers to innovate and increase safety on the roads. The legislation now moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Video of today’s markup can be viewed here.

“While most people think of nuts-and-bolts manufacturing when they think of Detroit, the story of our domestic auto industry is really the story of American innovation. Companies that innovated survived and those that didn’t fell by the wayside,” said Dingell. “The next chapter of American innovation is here with the development of self-driving cars. The challenge is for the United States to figure out how we can remain at the forefront of innovation and technology in the world and build a regulatory framework that first and foremost protects consumers, but is also flexible and can keep up with the pace of rapidly changing technology. It is imperative that we get this right. Today is another step toward accomplishing that goal.”

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 SELF DRIVE Act 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. It includes language from five bills introduced by Dingell that:

• Create a Federal Advisory Committee within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) with subcommittees to examine: mobility access for the disabled community, mobility access for senior citizens and populations underserved by public transportation, and cybersecurity.
• Establish new exemptions for motor vehicle safety standards to make easier the development or field evaluation of highly automated vehicles

The legislation includes important safety provisions, including requiring the submission of safety assessment certifications by manufacturers of HAVs and requiring 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.