A US House Committee will hold a hearing on January 13 on bills to ease autonomous vehicle deployment without human controls.
The debate will occur amidst the expansion of robotaxis and their testing in the US and following major automakers’ pressure on the Trump administration last June.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by Congressman Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
“We look forward to discussing these bills to strengthen motor vehicle safety with our colleagues and continuing to advance American automotive leadership”, the Chairmen stated.
Over the past years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sustained safety rules, but no requests from major automakers for exemptions have been approved.
Currently, the NHTSA is legally allowed to exempt up to 2,500 vehicles annually per automaker if a firm can show that the vehicles would be safe.
Draft Proposals
Multiple draft proposals will be considered in the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee’s hearing scheduled for January 13.
One of the main draft proposals consists of the cap raise to 90,000 per year of vehicles that could be deployed without human controls.
Addressing automaker complaints about barriers to robotaxi deployment, such as the safety standards — rear-view mirrors or steering wheels in vehicles — considered not necessary for robotaxis by automakers, is another objective.
Additional proposals include blocking state-level rules on autonomous driving and directing the NHTSA to establish calibration guidelines for advanced driver assistance systems.
Robotaxi Controversy and Expansion
Over the past few years, the NHTSA has opened several investigations into autonomous vehicles operated by Waymo and Amazon.com’s Zoox.
Last June, Tesla launched its robotaxi service with safety monitors in Austin, Texas.
While it prepares to start production of its robotaxi-dedicated model — the Cybercab — in April, the Elon Musk-led company began the service by using slightly modified Model Ys.
Waymo, Alphabet’s robotaxi unit, has also been rapidly expanding into new markets.
Later this year, the company will hold its commercial launch in London as global expansion continues.
Mercedes-Benz announced on Monday, at the CES in Las Vegas, that a new advanced driver-assistance system will enter the US later this year through its partnership with Nvidia, which allows its vehicles to operate autonomously on city streets under driver supervision.
