ATA president critical of trucking omission in autonomous-vehicle bills

From Transport Topics.

Legislation before Congress that would establish a regulatory landscape for autonomous cars while not addressing trucks does not reflect the realities of the driving landscape and will fall short on safety, the president of American Trucking Associations said Dec. 6.

“It just makes absolutely no sense why you wouldn’t want to build a framework that’s seamless, across the board, applies to all vehicles. We all share the road,” said ATA President Chris Spear, one of several participants in a panel discussion about infrastructure hosted by CQ Roll Call at the Newseum.

“Build a framework that makes sense for everybody,” Spear said. “If you’re really serious about safety. If you really want to lower the number of fatalities from 40,000 down to zero, you need connectivity. You need cars. You need trucks talking to one another … That’s just fundamental.”

ATA led a push on Capitol Hill aimed at trying to persuade lawmakers to include trucking-related provisions in the self-driving vehicle bills. Autonomous systems in trucks eventually would lead to an industry in which commercial vehicles operate via “driver-assist” and not “driverless,” Spear said

House lawmakers passed their car-centric bill in September. A Senate committee followed by approving a version in October that also focused on cars. Floor consideration in the Senate has yet to be scheduled. Disagreements about consumer protections and safety parameters have stalled the bill’s movement in the Senate.

See the full story from Transport Topics online.