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posted by martyb on Monday July 29 2019, @02:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Restarting-AV-START dept.

A new bill is being written with input from both the House and Senate in the hopes of speeding the introduction of self driving vehicles on the roads.

Similar legislation last year (the SELF DRIVE Act in the House and the 'AV START Act' in the Senate) failed to pass even though amended repeatedly in response to Democrat

raised objections that it didn’t do enough to address safety concerns. The hope is that with Democrats now in control of the House, a bill can be crafted from the start that addresses those concerns.

The new bipartisan legislation will also address

what these vehicles look like in the future, allowing for automakers to manufacture vehicles without steering wheels, gas, and brake pedals so long as the Department of Transportation exempts them from the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

Movement on this front was unexpected considering that

the AV industry has mostly dialed down its efforts in Washington. According to Politico, lobbying on driverless cars dropped 35 percent between the end of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.

Perhaps due to focusing on technical challenges.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 29 2019, @10:12AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @10:12AM (#872571) Journal

    Actually, the federal DOT already claims jurisdiction when it comes to "standards". You don't see individual states licensing class 8 trucks to run up and down the highways with hydraulic brakes, do you? That's because the feds have mandated that class 8 trucks have air brakes. Hydraulics was outlawed long, long ago, because the flow of oil is too slow.

    The feds set a nationwide speed limit after the oil crisis, remember? When they revoked that 55 MPH speed limit, they didn't tell the states that they HAD to raise their limits.

    Commercial drivers today have to get a federally approved CDL. Old state's driver's licenses are no longer any good.

    The feds have jurisdiction, and if you challenge any part of their jurisdiction, you'll be threatened with highway funds being withheld.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 29 2019, @03:17PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @03:17PM (#872664) Journal

    That does NOT sound like the feds have jurisdiction. It sounds like they make the states an offer that is too good to refuse.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 29 2019, @04:15PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 29 2019, @04:15PM (#872697) Journal

      It's kind of like congress. They control the purse strings, which gives them authority over every aspect of government.

  • (Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday July 29 2019, @06:53PM

    by Coward, Anonymous (7017) on Monday July 29 2019, @06:53PM (#872766) Journal

    Federal jurisdiction only goes so far, and big trucks are prohibited on many local roads. Sure, the feds can try to over reach. But the fact that this didn't become law indicates that federal power has political limits. Even if it did pass, the Supreme Court would probably also get to review it at some point.