Automated Vehicles 3.0 - Preparing for the Future of Transportation

AV 3.0 Provides New Multimodal Safety Guidance

• Affirms the approach outlined in A Vision for Safety 2.0 and encourages automated driving system developers to make their Voluntary Safety Self-Assessments public to increase transparency and confidence in the technology.

• Provides considerations and best practices for State and local governments to support the safe and effective testing and operation of automation technologies.

• Supports the development of voluntary technical standards and approaches as an effective non-regulatory means to advance the integration of automation technologies into the transportation system.

• Describes an illustrative framework of safety risk management stages along the path to full commercial integration of automated vehicles. This framework promotes the benefits of safe deployment while managing risk and provides clarity to the public regarding the distinctions between various stages of testing and full deployment.

• Affirms the Department is continuing its work to preserve the ability for transportation safety applications to function in the 5.9 GHz spectrum.

AV 3.0 Clarifies Policy and Roles

Automation technologies are new and rapidly evolving. The right approach to achieving safety improvements begins with a focus on removing unnecessary barriers and issuing voluntary guidance, rather than regulations that could stifle innovation.

AV 3.0 outlines how automation will be safely integrated across passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, on-road transit, and the roadways on which they operate.

• States that U.S. DOT will interpret and, consistent with all applicable notice and comment requirements, adapt the definitions of “driver” and “operator” to recognize that such terms do not refer exclusively to a human, but may include an automated system.

• Recognizes that given the rapid increase in automated vehicle testing activities in many locations, there is no need for U.S. DOT to favor particular locations or to pick winners and losers. Therefore, the Department no longer recognizes the designations of ten Automated Vehicle Proving Grounds announced on January 19, 2017.

• Urges States and localities to work to remove barriers—such as unnecessary and incompatible regulations—to automated vehicle technologies and to support interoperability.

• Affirms U.S. DOT’s authority to establish motor vehicle safety standards that allow for innovative automated vehicle designs— such as vehicles without steering wheels, pedals, or mirrors—and notes that such an approach may require a more fundamental revamping of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) approach to safety standards for application to automated vehicles.

• Reaffirms U.S. DOT’s reliance on a selfcertification approach, rather than type approval, as the way to balance and promote safety and innovation; U.S. DOT will continue to advance this approach with the international community

• Clarifies that, rather than requiring a onesize- fits-all approach, the Federal Transit Administration will provide transit agencies with tailored technical assistance as they develop an appropriate safety management system approach to ensuring safe testing and deployment of automated transit bus systems.