Self-Driving Semis Get Boost in U.S. Autonomous Vehicle Policy
- Truck regulator will regard technology as ‘driver’ under rules
- Shift is part of DOT’s bid to remove barriers to automation
The U.S. Transportation Department has given a boost to companies working on automated long-haul trucks, saying an artificial intelligence system could constitute a “driver” under federal trucking rules in a bid to ease barriers to the technology.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will no longer assume that a commercial vehicle driver is human, according to the Transportation Department’s “Automated Vehicles 3.0” guidance released Thursday. That is an initial step to allow trucks to travel across state lines piloted by an autonomous driving system. The safety regulator also signaled a willingness to overrule states standing in the way of self-driving trucks and is also studying how to amend existing rules to better accommodate self-driving systems.