Congress Goes Back In On AV Legislation

Back in January, I wrote about the auto industry’s growing sense that a set of nationwide regulatory standards was needed to govern automated vehicles (AVs). To date, twenty-nine states and Washington, DC have enacted AV-related legislation. A handful more have adopted Executive Orders or developed some other form of AV regulation. As the number of states with varying regulatory regimes continues to rise, the industry and some experts have grown concerned that the need to comply with a patchwork of disparate laws could hinder development of the industry.

Despite these concerns, and bipartisan support, the federal AV START Act died in the Senate at the close of 2018. After passing the House, a group of Senate Democrats became concerned that the bill focused too much on encouraging AV adoption at the expense of meaningful safety regulation. After the bill went down at the end of the year, the industry significantly reduced its lobbying efforts. This led some observers to conclude that the effort to pass AV START would not be renewed any time soon.

Never ones to let a good acronym go to waste, several members of Congress have begun work to revive the American Vision for Safer Transportation Through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies (AV START) Act. Over the summer, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers held a series of meetings to discuss a new deal. Their hope is that, with Democrats now in control of the House, the safety concerns that stalled the bill in the upper chamber last winter will be assuaged earlier in the process.

Congress’ efforts, spearheaded by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) appear to be making at least some headway. Both the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sent letters to a variety of stakeholders requesting comments on a potential bill.

The legislature appears to be moving forward deliberately however, and to date no hearings on the subject have been scheduled in either the House or Senate. As Congress once again builds an effort to pass comprehensive AV legislation, this blog will be following and providing updates.