The Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will look at autonomous vehicle regulations during a 26 July hearing called “Self-Driving Vehicle Legislative Framework: Enhancing Safety, Improving Lives and Mobility, and Beating China.” Previous versions of the Bill were sponsored by Republicans but went nowhere. This time the subcommittee will consider separate draft legislation from Representative Bob Latta, a Republican from Ohio, and Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan. NHTSA is also in the process of looking at self-driving vehicle regulations.*
The Center for Auto Safety says one of the proposals, the SELF DRIVE Act, “neglects to include any consumer protections that prevent the use of binding arbitration clauses in contracts involving autonomous vehicles.” As is common in Washington the legislation is misleadingly named. However, there is a need to explore the issue as there are arguments on many aspects of technology and systems that can save lives and reduce traffic congestion even though AutoInformed remains skeptical about the ability of politicians to do so with a regard for We the People as opposed to We the Congress who are paid large sums by corporate interests.
This legal shield in the view of CAS ** is a technique long used by tech and ride-share companies to prevent access to courts by victims. Binding arbitration is now being used by AV manufacturers in their autonomous ride-share operations. “Under the proposed legislative language, victims of AV crashes would lose the opportunity to bring civil claims when crashes occur, and be forced to into secretive and biased arbitration proceedings. These would be funded by AV manufacturers, with few of the opportunities and protections guaranteed to consumers in US courts,” CAS said.
*AutoInformed on
**AV Bill of Rights
The draft released in February 2023 by CAS – discusses a wide and formidable list of potential issues. Simply put, it says AVs should “Do No Harm!” The draft is an ambitious attempt to learn from the more than a century of automobility and apply the knowledge at the outset of what is expected to be widespread AV use sometime in the, oh, next decade or three.
Key points of the Autonomous Vehicle working paper, dubbed the AV Bill of Rights.
- AVs shall not increase risk of injury or death inside or outside of an AV.
- The bare minimum standard for introduction of AVs into commerce is that an AV does not degrade the safety of the highways, highway users, or accessible property. (Do No Harm!)
- No vehicle design version may be deployed that increases the frequency of crashes or the likely magnitude of property damage due to crashes or fire.
- No vehicle design may be deployed that increases the probability of injury or death to vehicle occupants, to other motorists or their vehicles, to structures that might contain the AV (including by battery or other electrical fires), to police, fire fighters and other emergency personnel, construction personnel, or other vulnerable road users.
- AVs must include automatic fallback to a safe state in the event of mechanical failure, software or data processing failure or fault, inability to safely continue based on Object Event Detection and Response processing failure, other consequential operational problem, or occupant demand.
- NHTSA 2017 paper shows minimum standard for AV-specific reliability ~1/140 million hours of operation between critical factors in fatal crashes.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Consumer Rights Nil in New Autonomous Vehicle Bills?
The Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will look at autonomous vehicle regulations during a 26 July hearing called “Self-Driving Vehicle Legislative Framework: Enhancing Safety, Improving Lives and Mobility, and Beating China.” Previous versions of the Bill were sponsored by Republicans but went nowhere. This time the subcommittee will consider separate draft legislation from Representative Bob Latta, a Republican from Ohio, and Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan. NHTSA is also in the process of looking at self-driving vehicle regulations.*
The Center for Auto Safety says one of the proposals, the SELF DRIVE Act, “neglects to include any consumer protections that prevent the use of binding arbitration clauses in contracts involving autonomous vehicles.” As is common in Washington the legislation is misleadingly named. However, there is a need to explore the issue as there are arguments on many aspects of technology and systems that can save lives and reduce traffic congestion even though AutoInformed remains skeptical about the ability of politicians to do so with a regard for We the People as opposed to We the Congress who are paid large sums by corporate interests.
This legal shield in the view of CAS ** is a technique long used by tech and ride-share companies to prevent access to courts by victims. Binding arbitration is now being used by AV manufacturers in their autonomous ride-share operations. “Under the proposed legislative language, victims of AV crashes would lose the opportunity to bring civil claims when crashes occur, and be forced to into secretive and biased arbitration proceedings. These would be funded by AV manufacturers, with few of the opportunities and protections guaranteed to consumers in US courts,” CAS said.
*AutoInformed on
**AV Bill of Rights
The draft released in February 2023 by CAS – discusses a wide and formidable list of potential issues. Simply put, it says AVs should “Do No Harm!” The draft is an ambitious attempt to learn from the more than a century of automobility and apply the knowledge at the outset of what is expected to be widespread AV use sometime in the, oh, next decade or three.
Key points of the Autonomous Vehicle working paper, dubbed the AV Bill of Rights.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.