FCMSA Seeks Public Comment on Autonomous Vehicle Technology

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is seeking public comment on self-driving vehicle regulations.

The organization is requesting public comments on existing Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations that may need to be updated, modified, or eliminated to ease the safe introduction of commercial motor vehicles equipped with automated driving systems, or ADS.

The agency has commissioned the Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to conduct a preliminary review of the federal regulations to identify any that may relate to the development and safe introduction of ADS. The agency requests comments on this report, including whether any of FMCSA's current safety regulations may hinder the testing and safe integration of ADS-equipped commercial motor vehicles.

FMCSA also is requesting comments on specific regulatory requirements that are likely to be affected by an increased integration of ADS-equipped CMVs. However, the agency is not seeking comments on its financial responsibility requirements, because they are not directly related to CMV technologies and because future insurance requirements will depend in part on the evolution of state tort law with respect to liability for the operation of ADS-equipped vehicles.

In addition, to help it understand future impacts on the regulations, FMCSA requests information, including from companies engaged in the design, development, testing, and integration of ADS-equipped CMVs into the fleet, about:

• The scenarios and environments where entities expect that ADS will soon be tested and integrated into CMVs operating on public roads or in interstate commerce;

• The operational design domains in which these systems are being operated or would be tested and eventually deployed; and

• Measures they believe are required to ensure the protection of any proprietary or confidential business information they intend to share with the agency.

Public comments on this notice must be received by May 10, 2018, to be included in the FCMSA study. Respondents can submit their comments identified by Docket Number FMCSA-2018-0037 at  http://www.regulations.gov or by mailing them to:

Docket Management Facility

U.S. Department of Transportation

Room W12-140

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE

Washington, DC 20590-0001