Welcome to The On-Ramp, the newsletter from Venable’s Autonomous and Connected Mobility team. The On-Ramp explores legal and policy developments in the world of autonomous vehicles (“AVs”), smart infrastructure, and emerging mobility technologies, from Capitol Hill to the U.S. Department of Transportation and state capitals around the country.
The beginning of 2022 has seen a number of developments around autonomous and connected mobility, including a congressional hearing on autonomous vehicles (“AV”), the release of “Innovation Principles” from the U.S. Department of Transportation, and activity in Washington, Oklahoma, the District of Columbia, and other states.
Congressional Activity
House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Hearing on “The Road Ahead for Automated Vehicles”
On February 2, 2022, the United States House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (“Committee”) Subcommittee on Highways and Transit (“Subcommittee”) held a hearing, “The Road Ahead for Automated Vehicles.” The hearing featured eight witnesses from the autonomous vehicle (“AV”) industry, state and local government, labor organizations, public interest groups, and academia. Committee and Subcommittee leadership opened the hearing by noting the promise and risks of AV technology. Witnesses focused on the benefits communities have seen from AV deployments, workforce development, local AV pilots, regional technology and data sharing, and the importance of a national strategy on AVs to maximize deployment of AV technology geographically and across many use cases. Witnesses from the AV industry discussed AV safety, economic and supply chain improvements, and the equity benefits of AVs. Following these statements, members questioned witnesses on a number of issues, including:
- Infrastructure – Whether AVs require infrastructure improvements.
- Trucking – How the deployment of AV technology in trucking can help with the driver shortage.
- Information Sharing – How the industry shares information with government stakeholders.
- AV Testing and Deployment – The timeline for AV deployments and regulatory changes needed to accelerate deployments.
- Equity – Opportunities for AVs to improve equity by serving disadvantaged communities, addressing food deserts, and expanding access to mobility.
- Economic Competitiveness – How the U.S. can preserve its leadership role in AV technology innovation.
- Safety – Ways in which the AV industry demonstrates the safety of its technology and how its deployments will improve safety for all users.
Department of Transportation Personnel:
Congress has continued to work on the nominations of senior U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) personnel. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the nominations of DOT Deputy General Counsel John Putnam, who has been nominated to be the Department’s General Counsel, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) Deputy Administrator Steven Cliff, nominated to be NHTSA’s Administrator. Both nominations now await a full vote of the Senate. On December 20, 2021 it was announced that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) Deputy Administrator Meera Joshi, who had been nominated to be FMCSA’s Administrator, would instead be leaving FMCSA to join New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration as Deputy Mayor for Operations. DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety Policy Robin Hutcheson has been named Acting FMCSA Administrator. Voting on DOT nominees on the floor of the Senate has been held up by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has announced he will place a hold on all DOT and Department of Commerce nominees until DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appear before a hearing on supply chain issues.
U.S. Department of Transportation Activity
The Department of Transportation (“DOT” or “the Department”) advanced multiple items related to autonomous and connected mobility…
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