US company proposes to streamline self-driving automotive exemption critiques

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration on Friday proposed a brand new course of to streamline critiques of exemptions filed by automakers searching for to deploy self-driving automobiles with out required human controls like steering wheels or brake pedals. 

NHTSA has authority to grant petitions to permit as much as 2,500 automobiles per producer to function on U.S. roads with out required human controls however the company has spent years reviewing a number of petitions with out taking motion. Efforts in Congress to make it simpler to deploy automobiles on U.S. roads with out human controls have been stymied for years.

Automakers have expressed frustration with the company’s gradual critiques of autonomous automobiles. Beneath the regulation, totally self-driving automobiles don’t want NHTSA approval if they’ve required human controls.

The business faces scrutiny after a pedestrian was severely injured in October 2023 by a Common Motors (NYSE:GM) unit Cruise car. NHTSA has opened various investigations into self-driving automobiles together with Cruise, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s Waymo and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s Zoox.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing GM, Toyota (NYSE:TM), Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p), Hyundai (OTC:HYMTF) and different main automakers, stated the proposal will “present a pathway to considerably increase the variety of business AVs working within the U.S… We urgently want a regulatory framework for AVs within the U.S., so we don’t cede management to China and different nations.”

Reuters and different shops have reported that President-elect Donald Trump desires to ease deployment limitations for self-driving automobiles. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, an in depth adviser to Trump, stated in October the automaker would roll out driverless ride-hailing companies in 2025.

NHTSA in October opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla automobiles geared up with full self-driving (FSD) after 4 reported collisions, together with a 2023 deadly crash.

In 2018, GM petitioned NHTSA to deploy as much as 2,500 automobiles with out steering wheels or brake pedals on U.S. roads. In 2020, GM withdrew the petition.

GM in 2022 once more sought NHTSA approval to deploy automobiles with out human controls. GM withdrew the petition in October and introduced this month it might exit the Cruise robotaxi enterprise.

Ford (NYSE:F) final yr withdrew its self-driving petition filed in July 2021 with NHTSA, citing its choice to shut its self-driving enterprise Argo AI in 2022.