U.S. to exempt automated vehicles from some crash standards

U.S. to exempt automated vehicles from some crash standards

The auto and technology industries have long pressed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to modify existing vehicle safety standards that boosted the cost of automated cars and trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued new rules that would allow manufacturers of automated vehicles to sidestep certain crash standards required of conventional vehicles in order to cut production costs. The NHTSA has stated last Thursday the rules would exempt automated vehicles that are designed to carry only goods, not people, from some crash standards. The new rules would give a freer hand to manufacturers of 

passenger-carrying autonomous vehicles to design vehicles without standard controls, such as steering wheels.

According to  Deputy NHTSA Administrator James Owens, “We do not want regulations enacted long before the development of automated technologies to present an unintended and unnecessary barrier to innovation and improved vehicle safety.”

It is the first time the NHTSA has taken a significant move to remove barriers to deployment of vehicles without the usual, human controls. This includes dropping the requirement of a driver’s seat in self-driving vehicles. NHTSA’s final rule says it seeks “to remove unintended and unnecessary barriers to vehicle designs.”

Although the agency released the text of a single final rule encompassing the changes and signed on Wednesday, it is not clear when it will be formally published in the Federal Register.

The Self-Driving Coalition, a group including Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, Ford Motor Co, Uber and others, said the rule addresses “barriers to innovation while preserving the important safety protections afforded to vehicle occupants by NHTSA’s current standards.”

The NHTSA has estimated its rule would save automated vehicle manufacturers up to $5.8 billion in the year 2050, or about $995 per vehicle based on an estimated production of 5.8 million vehicles.