The U.S. Department of Transportation is moving to remove a significant regulatory barrier to fully autonomous vehicles, proposing to eliminate federal standards that require human controls in cars and trucks.
NHTSA is fast-tracking its review of a petition by Amazon-owned Zoox to deploy up to 2,500 purpose-built robotaxis with no steering wheels, while also proposing to eliminate motor vehicle standards that don’t apply to AVs — including requirements for windshield wipers, defrosters, and defoggers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy framed the push in competitive terms at an AV safety forum in Washington. “We are in a race, right? Everyone is trying to have the best technology that will be deployed around the world,” Duffy said. “I want the technology to be developed in America, I want the jobs in America, and I want the rest of the world to use American technology.” Axios
Also coming this year is new safety guidance for AV developers — the first major update since NHTSA published its AV 2.0 guidelines in 2017. “A great deal has changed since then, and we know a lot more about technology and safety related to AVs,” said NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison.
Robotaxis currently deployed on U.S. roads are based on conventional vehicles retrofitted with autonomous systems. Removing human-centric design requirements would allow manufacturers to build purpose-built AV platforms without the cost and engineering overhead of features designed for human drivers.
