Transcripts For CSPAN Automotive Innovation 20180125

You can read more on the ap website. The president of the United States. President donald trump gives his first state of the Union Address. Of thespan for a preview evening serving at 8 00 eastern and state of the union speech live at 9 p. M. And following the speech, we will hear reaction and comments from members of congress. President trumps state of the Union Address tuesday night live on cspan. Listen live with the cspan radio app. And listen live on your device or tablet. Automotive Innovation Companies talk about the opportunities and challenges with self driving an electric vehicle technology. Safety concerns and the potential impact of federal regulations. Committee commerce held the field hearing at the side of the washington auto show. Good morning. Of leadingprivileges a committee with a jurisdiction as broad as that is the commerce committee, work takes us off capitol hill and into the real world. In recent years, weve held hearings in nebraska florida and south dakota. We havent traveled quite as far today, but we are here to discuss something that is no less important for all americans. Nearly 1 trillion of economic allvity each year, across 50 states. And this industry is not standing still. It is hard to believe but the Auto Industry spends more on research and develop men of new technologies in the software and aerospace. Todays hightech automobile has parts drawn from the Global Supply chain. Improved safety, new jobs, and reduced congestion. They offer perhaps the largest potential gains in all of these areas. More than 30 7000 people lost their lives on u. S. Roads in 2016. A troubling and unacceptable increase from the year before. As many as 94 of those crashes were the result of human error. They cannot become distracted or get impaired. Avs may spur economic activity. It will spur a new passenger economy worth 7 trillion over the next two decades. Many americans such as the elderly and those with disabilities, some of whom may be unable to drive today. For countries to realize makeits, policymakers must a careful approach. We must allow innovation to thrive while ensuring technology is safe and reliable. We must also refrain from favoring one technology or Business Model over another so as to avoid locking in technology before innovation can take place. Bipartisan av start act, we are copper schools by building on the existing Regulatory Framework to prioritize safety through increased reporting and oversight, thus promoting Public Safety and Building Public confidence and trust. Start removes barriers to innovation and existing law and promote a level Playing Field so that either traditional automakers or new startups are unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged. Not ableegulators are to foster testing and deployment through modernizations, the rest of the world will not sit by. Wayica currently leads the in innovation, but many countries are catching up. We want to see the benefits of new jobs and new economic growth. Bad. V start act is just a start. As they become more widespread, there will be tough policy that we must all Work Together to answer. Such as those relating to data and how long enforcement will interact with avs. This community will remain active. I will want to thank senator peters, Ranking Member nelson, and all members of the committee , and look forward to seeing it pass the full senate soon. While Av Technology is approaching quickly, the Auto Industrys innovating in other areas. Assistance isr available in increasing numbers of vehicles and are already saving lives. New developments in fuel technology such as hybrid and all electric vehicles, and increased use of biofuels such as ethanol boost fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. To explore these issues, we have a great panel of witnesses representing organizations leading the way in many areas of automated innovation. President of rocket bosch north rica, mr. Tim cantley k i want toy and thank all of you for being with us today. I will turn to senator nelson for opening remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. There you go. ,ne of those south streets going the speed limit. The right lane to my front in they does a uturn entire street right in front of us. To which we commented, if we were in an Automated Vehicle, and he was an Automated Vehicle, it wouldnt have happened. So there was the demonstration for me early this morning. Chairman, and very hopeful about the prospect of self driving cars. I appreciate the efforts of senator peters that made this a signature issue. It is appropriate for him because of being from michigan. Been dogged in his pursuit of this legislation. And i thank you, mr. Chairman, that you have arranged to be down here at the auto show. It seems to have gotten a good bit of interest. I wonder how many are here for the hearing and how many are here to go to the auto show. But youre planning was enormously successful. And i am very excited about my state of floridas role in the development of autonomous technology. I am pleased part of our panel is dr. Adventure was the president of Polytechnic University in florida. Partnershiprking in with the Florida Department of transportation to develop and a 42 million 475 acre baton amiss vehicle testing facility at their campus. And i want to congratulate you for this achievement. And i am confident that your worldclass facility will, in fact, play a vital role in the Ongoing Research that we are going to do. This technology is advancing rapidly. Just two weeks ago at the electronics show, General Motors announced a plan to put fully a time as vehicles without driver astrols on the public roads early as 2019. Whether or not that occurs depends on us and our legislation. General motors is not alone. Countless other automakers. Technology companies. Suppliers. Are rolling out innovations that have the potential to completely transform our sense of mobility. And as the chairman mentioned, to cut down, and as i experienced, on a lot of traffic accidents. Addition, these vehicles may bring significant environmental benefits through reduced ,missions, increased efficiency productivity, the improved transportation opportunities for underserved communities, seniors, and people with disabilities. While these benefits of self driving vehicles are numerous, it is crucial that the congress and the federal government exercise responsible oversight to ensure the Safe Development and deployment of these technologies. Av start act which was passed unanimously by this committee in october is an important step. And enhances safety by requiring a taunus Vehicle Manufacturers to submit safety evaluation reports to the department of transportation. And that is to demonstrate how they will address system safety crashworthiness and Cyber Security among others. Additionally, this act reinforces a traditional existing role played by federal, state, and local governments pertaining to vehicle registration. Look forward to continuing to work with you and senator peters as this legislation advances. Thank you, senator nelson. We want to welcome our panel. Who will start on my left, youre right. Your right. From in the park, california. And i said your name wrong at schneider,mike, but here in austin, texas. Thank you all for being here. Confine your oral remarks to five minutes, we will make sure all of you has testimony included in the written record and maximize the opportunity for members to ask questions. Please proceed. Welcome. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to address you today on this very important topic. As many of you know, the vision of Driverless Cars has been around well over 50 years, but little progress was made when darpa created a prize competition called the darpa grand challenge. Since then, theres been exponential growth that mirrors the Development Trajectories in other disruptive markets like computing, networking, and dna sequencing. Impact, the technical and regulatory challenges, and the role of the federal government. If implemented correctly, the primary advantage centers on driver related deaths. Last year alone, there were nearly 40,000 fatalities in the u. S. At a cost of over 410 billion. Children it can make Public Transportation more effective. Significantly increase the utilization of automobiles which is less than 5 now. And with higher utilization of cars, the capacity of the transportation infrastructure would rise. Transportation sector impact, Core Technologies will impact other markets such as agriculture, logistics, natural defense, and manufacturing. It would be hard to find any technology was a more disruptive impact. Say it may soon be replaced by interconnected computers on wheels scheduled and controlled by a taunus algorithms and developed i. T. Companies. U. S. Car manufacturers will need to look like the i. T. Companies as they already are. Hotels, real estate, auto repair, and health care will all be affected, just to name a few. The promise of technology is noteworthy but there are still barriers to the widespread adoption. Core relies on what i call a sensory signal process chain. There are still significant work that needs to be done to improve performance. A strong Regulatory Framework is , but is likely to stifle innovation and give global competitors an advantage. To this end, we need a datadriven approach for andcies and legislation certification approaches and other industries. We must innovate a full spectrum of tests and approaches from digital stimulation and hardware to closed circuit and public open road testing in urban areas. Lastly, there will be a rapid shift towards Computer Science, a engineering, and analytics as it matures in vehicles interacting with civil infrastructure. Both the Transportation Industry and regulatory partners will need to prepare for this shift. States have taken a leadership role. The federal government can have throughonstructive role safety consortiums that investigate and provide data much like the ntsb role. After creating quasigovernment organization much like the department of energy and department of defense. It conducts applied research and provide independent and unbiased technology. Is working with partners to Research Solutions and these challenges. Includes a deep partnership. And a partnership with the Orlando Smart City Initiative that provides open road testing and an urban setting. Combined with the advanced mobility institute, it is focused on many of these challenges. Thank you for your time today. Enqueue, dr. Avent. Eyklay Ranking Member nelson, senators. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. Arrived to the u. S. From a straley a just over three years ago, it is indeed an honor to be here before you among respected business leaders. On the safety opportunity 2012. Watching from afar, while google was attempting to drive and develop a self driving car. , correctly understood, will transform how we move everyone and everything on this planet. Ookzooks ise hold at vehicle willmated take us to the next mobility age. Fully automated transportation. Theere founded to ask question, what is the full realization of autonomy and mobility . Can we imagine that . And if we can, lets not build it in 10 years. Lets build it now. We have gone from a founding vision to today augmenting cars with a taunus vehicle driving in downtown San Francisco. We are driving during the day, during the night, and in heavy rain and fog. We also drive a taunus on freeways. Of features, as we speak. The fulle realize realization is not retrofitted cars, we create a vehicle from ,he ground up without controls that is purposely built for the needs of our cities today and tomorrow. It means safe and wonderful mobility. This represents a phenomenal effort by highly disciplinary team. Intelligence with , product design, safety, vehicle engineering. Ferrari. Esla, apple, and along with academic institutions such as stanford, m. I. T. , oxford, princeton. The very real safety opportunity that a taunus mobility will offer drives our work every day. A taunus Technology Holds up the promise for a whole new safety paradigm. One that will allow us to prevent crashes in the first place. The number of people we lost as a result of car crashes in 2016 went up despite our best efforts. Represents 2000 loved ones lost. Car crashes are the leading cause of death. It is our view that only a taunus mobility offers the opportunity to make irrelevant the safety risks associated with driver impairment. We should act on that. What is the policy opportunity . Important to recognize that we are in the midst of a great and global race. Other countries are sprinting to harness and deploy this technology. Fast ve scaled it is could not have scaled it is fast anywhere else than the United States of america. I am grateful for that and came to maintain the Competitive Edge here. Are vitally important to me that end. The posture of both the administration and congress is to create a level Playing Field to let the innovative innovate. This must continue. Your act captured these principles and encourages innovation in a Technology Neutral way without picking winners. The legislation making its way through congress is the right approach for this moment. Is all, the journey about connecting people and in an safely and environmentally conscious way and with a sense of wonder. A mobility sits on the vanguard of possible as innovators look forward to working with you, the , to create the next era in mobility. Thank you. Thank you. Mansuetti think you for the opportunity to testify before you today. Robert bosch founded the company in 1886 in germany and we established our first u. S. Office in 1906. Companies have grown to encompass more than 18,000 associates in 25 states. Of the business sectors, Mobility Solutions is the largest. The u. S. Remains at the forefront of innovation efforts and we are actively testing in michigan, california and dan asked the creation of a new center of confidence and Silicon Valley will serve as one of the three global sites for these efforts. I appreciate the opportunity to share. This hearing is taking place at a critical juncture in our history. We are witnessing an evolution in almost every aspect of the vehicle from how we power cars to how we handle and transition control. A deeply appreciate the efforts of senator peters, raking member nelson and sponsoring the av start act. To staff took great care understand the complex role that andlay as incubators developers of automated driving systems. In theend the Committee Consumer education requirement from the av start act. We express appreciation for the ongoing support of crash avoidance technologies. A vision for accident free driving. We see the potential for outdated vehicles to dramatically decrease vehicle related injuries and fatalities. Making automated driving a reality calls for a profound understanding of all vehicle systems. We manufacture the key components with ultrasonic sensors, Brake Control systems, and more. Automated driving will require more than just sensors and cameras. It will require a new vision for the electronic architecture. For higher levels of automated driving, we need redundancy in Critical Systems such as breaking and steering. We support all levels of automation, and this redundancy is a critical element, especially for level four and level five Automated Vehicles. It is also important for level three vehicles where safety critical functions may be handled. As part of navigating this new landscape, we are forging alliances. In 2017, we announced a partnership with daimler. We are also cognizant of the tremendous need for consumer outreach. Understanding,ic educating the public on automated mobility, it can be quality of life and explain how technologies will make that possible. Bosch. Priority for bosch has worked to develop robust and comprehensive solutions. We have espoused this principle in the development of engagement with our customers. First, by developing systems and technologies that can address risks of electronic architecture of the vehicles. It can be interwoven into Vehicle Design on the outset. Addressing potential threats and developing best practices. As with look forward to these advances, we can fulfill the millions of jobs that were to fuel transformation. To build and shape the , andacturing workforce maintain an apprenticeship at several manufacturing facilities and the Community Fund provides grants to stem based Educational Programs and professional development for teachers. Thank you for the opportunity today. We will forward to continuing to work with each of you as we continue to develop technologies that are truly invented for life. I look forward your questions. Thank you, mr. Mansuetti. Mr. Snyder. Chairman, Ranking Member nelson. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today. Of theou on behalf Automotive Industry and vehicles for leadership in helping to enact the av start act. There is an urgency to pass the act because it will create for innovators a consistent, national Regulatory Framework that is necessary to advance Mobility Solutions that will positively transform American Cities for the disabled and ensure greater safety on our roads. This legislation will allow us to realize the transportation resolute revolutions we talk about. Shared mobility and Automated Vehicle. Enhanced by digitalization. Especially for automated. When the related technologies can offer. In the most copperheads of way since the 1890s. I would like to share some insights. The fact is, disruptors have created new categories of jobs that did not exist before. Jobs createdf new for workers across all skill levels. Offering technology across the fleet. We were the first take google earth mobile on the Navigation System before was on phones. The third wave of the technological revolution. The cost of batteries has gone down significantly. The way we want to access transportation to the use and ownership of vehicles is fundamentally changing along with other major consumer categories in our lives. It will be innovating to reduce fatalities. An improved mobility for all. The innovations i mentioned earlier all have one thing in common. Safety. Allwheeldrive excels in the worst conditions. Navigations tell exactly where to go. Our lighting illuminates that road, but the closest thing to daylight. 1. 2 5 Million People die on our roads every year locally. And human error is the number one cause. Vehicle automation promises to improve safety on roads and reduce collisions by as much as 90 . But maybe even more exciting, we can also deliver basic access to tens of millions of people. The elderly and those with disabilities will be able to move with far greater freedom and efficiency. Livey 16 Million People where Public Transportation is poor or nonexistent. For audi, that is why we are delivering level three automation as well as working to develop highly Automated Vehicles that need no human driver at the wheel. Vehicles have the potential to reduce fuel use and Carbon Emissions since theyre likely to be easy, shared, and drive more efficiently than humans. Fewer crashes means fewer traffic jams. We want to Work Together to address challenges facing 80s and amenities. ,ike reducing fatalities reducing congestion and pollution, maximizing scarce dollars and maximizing transportation flows. It will help us address this challenge. Fiveminute rounds of questions here. I find this incredibly exciting and i look at the transformational impact. Mobilityity, providing benefit i have a makeion for you and i will this a two or three prong question. There are skeptics out there. A lot of it has to do with americans like to drive, and they integrate into a national fleet. How do we build consumer trust. People that drive vehicles as a profession. If you can speak to how we convince people, this is a good thing. Come back and those are at least three questions that i would love to have the opportunity to answer. Feel free whoever would like to take a stab at that. Perhaps i will start. Inc. If of the questions. We are concerned with those issues and we to address those. Regardingrst question Building Consumer trust, that was one of the big things that and isthat we need to do a job of the Automotive Industry. Thats why we started the bosch mobility academy. Talked to consumers about Automated Vehicles and if they are ready to let go. Many of them are not. They are ready to let go of certain functions like parking. We see parking as an early use case to speed the adoption of Automated Vehicles. Who would not like to just get out and have their car automatically valet parked or returned . Regarding labor impacts, reeducating our workforce. Sc vehicles likely utilized. The allow other things that you can use. Measures. Security Building Technology and Cyber Security. And looking at the entire network. These are the things were working on. If you talk about contemplating Consumer Education in the bill itself, the department of transportation alongside individual oems and other industry players. They are really need to conspire to do this together. Decree 200 jobs in a very short time. All of which span the number of job categories. I think the big difference here is that the people employed in personal transportation are going to be working at Different Things, not exactly the same things that they are working on today. ,nd the nature of technology. Ecause of job classes few industries are as regulated as the Automotive Industry. And we are still able to make use of the data thats generated by the use of these shared mobility systems. Thank you for your three questions. To address them briefly, in have to adoption, we never adopt the technology. In the case of aviation, it may be the safest mode of transportation. You have to build trust with the community. This is happening today. Injury and yet they have been many cases were the vehicles have been hit by human drivers. I think by limiting the geographic domain and employment of the vehicles. In terms of the jobs piece, people talk about this being a disruptive technology. I find that term a little bit myopic. I see us creating a constructive technology, correctly understood, for a new way to come into vogue in the mainstream, i think it has to be materially better than the incumbent and so i think what were actually creating is a new way of doing things better and that will lead to new job creation and this is always the way with technology. If you look in america, 100 years ago today, 40 of the workforce worked in agriculture. Today, its less than 1 , but we dont have, you know, 40 unemployment as a consequence, because its a whole new set of economies and jobs that we have, and just as theres more people and more revenue from the Automobile Industry than the horse and carriage industry, theres going to be more people working and more revenue in the Autonomous Mobility era as well. So we see great opportunity here, and the challenge for society is really how do we reskill people to get the new Job Opportunities that will come from new technology. And finally, in security, that requires perpetual pejoratives. Vigilance. L Cyber Security is always going to be a threat. Its probably not the best to disclose in intimate ways what our countermeasures are at zoox but its something we think a lot about and something we would be happy to chat about offline. But one thing i would say is its important to understand the geometry of how these vehicles would work. In zooxs case, we own and operate the vehicle so a customer cant buy it and reverse engineer it in their garage. To access the vehicle, you need to have a credit card and be part of a system so we know who you are and were tracking the vehicle and we know where you are and what youre doing and the vehicle is limited to the road network. The occupant in the vehicle has no capacity to take it off that road network as a bad actor. And so if you add all that up, i think it means that the technology is actually quite secured, and its really not a good area for a bad actor to try and do something that would be negative for society. Mr. R. Avent, and would,klay, if you paint the picture as a result of Autonomous Vehicles, what the downtown streets of new york city manhattan look like in the future. Just to follow on the conversation previously, i think that theres no magic bullet for consumer trust, and its going to have to be built incrementally, and probably is going to lag behind the technology. So i think this technologys going to be adopted maybe a little bit slower than what there are many predictions of that. But when it is adopted, i think that youll see, like i said, interconnected computers that are scheduling each other. Theyre optimizing, theyre adaptive so downtown new york city will have vehicles on it. Theyll probably be fewer vehicles with more capacity because of utilization of vehicles now is about 5 . And parking will change significantly. I think that youll see vehicles communicating to each other and interact with the environment, so much safer and much more efficient transportation. So, will there be as much the need to purchase your own vehicle in the future . Mr. Kentleyklay . Senator nelson, thank you for your question. While people love driving cars, people dont like being car in gridlock. Its not a good use of our time. Its already clear in cities and manhattans a great example, the average car ownership is 0. 6 per household. Nationally in america, its a little bit under two. And the demographics are quite clear that young people see car ownership as a hassle. To park, do insurance, due maintenance. They would much rather just have an ondemand model where they can pay for what they use and when theyre not using it, someone else is, which is a wonderful use of that product. It is getting high utilization. To address your question before in terms of how does this change manhattan . I mean, manhattan is the crown jewel for this technology in many ways. Theres actually 13,000 ubers and lyfts and taxis operating on the island at any one time. In the opening stanzas of the technology, i think were developing our technology to work in a mixed mode environment, but beyond the launch of the technology, i think, in the space of sort of five to ten years, i think youll see cities creating disincentives for cars that pollute and that are human driven to come into the most congested areas and just to have Autonomous Mobility. And that will be transformational for those cities. Your reduce congestion enhance , the air quality within the city. Youll be able to clean up the urban landscape. Theres a lot of visual pollution from traffic lights, sign posts, car parking. You open up more lanes so i think from an urban planning point of view, the Technology Actually holds great promise to actually refresh and reinvent our most dense urban areas to be safer and more enjoyable. So, paint the picture of the future of travel from new york to chicago. From washington to philadelphia. What is it going to look like . Any of you. And then i want to ask you mr. , schneider, i want to find out, since youre one of the auto companies, i want you to tell me why is this not threatening the purchase of your automobiles. Paint the picture of this Long Distance travel. Well, i think its going to be wonderful, you know, imagine the difference between a horse and carriage and the model t ford. Thats an incredible transformation, and its our belief that were about to go through the same transformation in terms of the products that the general public will be able to access to enhance their ability to move across the country. So, is it were going to have highspeed dedicated lanes that youre going to punch in that i want to go to philadelphia, or i want to go to baltimore, or new york or boston . Is that what the future of Long Distance travel is . Anybody . I think youll see mixed mode transportation. People will still fly, take trains, and theyll drive cars. I think the technology will start in a more dense urban areas first, but as it matures, it will lead to intercity travel and it will be wonderful for people because its going to be safe and will work in a mixed mode environment. Okay, mr. Schneider, why are you not dealing yourself out of business . Well, this is a great question, and this is sort of at the heart of the matter. So, whats great about this is that we, as an industry, are beginning to speak in terms that are typically more associated with the technology in the hightech sectors, and that is in the form of use cases. So, mixed mode, multiple use cases, whether youre trying to get from point to point in a city or from city to city, interurban, suburban, there are so many different use cases for personal transportation that to think that a 10 trillion Global Industry is going to be solved by a single solution is really not probably realistic from our view. The way we look at this and the reason why we, as an auto maker, are excited about the future, is that in pretty much every other category that we consume, food, music, media, lodging, the consumer models either are changing or have changed. We buy things differently. We buy what we want. We pay for what we use and we do it on our phone. And from our perspective, that concept of a consumer model, where youre consuming this category of personal transportation, is an entirely unexplored syria, unexplored area, one that really marks the transformation of our industry. So, whether you use Public Transportation, which we believe will still be, you know, an available option to go from place to place, whether you use a private conveyance, which is automated or in some other wait or in some other way even highly automated is an option. The point is that getting from place to place will become more efficient and a lower cost per passenger mile opportunity. Youll unlock, you know, demand for mobility. People view mobility and moving around as a basic need today, not a luxury or Something Like that. Thats exciting, because if you really believe that, and youre looking at the people who can create the assets that move people from place to place, well, fundamentally, thats what we do. And so, if the way we we offer those up to the consuming public is different, just a different consumer model, well, then, thats our obligation to figure out how to serve them, you know, what they need. Them what they need. We clearly need automated microphones at this hearing. [laughter] mr. Kentley klay, you said the a. V. Start act and the drive act are the right approaches. You said there is an emergency to starting the a. V. Start act. Let me ask you, have you looked at this legislation and do you advocate the passage of it . Yes, we support it. We appreciate the work thats been done. It provides clear and certain framework moving forward. We supported and look forward to the passage. Would you help us pronounce your name . Avid. Like the dairy in mississippi. What do you think about this legislation . Is there an urgency to getting this done . If we get it done, how soon will we see the fruits of it . I havent read it in its entirety. I will pass. Fair enough. Who wants to talk about hot cars . Three of you have advocated the passage of this legislation. The a. V. Bill contains the hot car provision, which i helped cosponsor. There were approximately 755 child vehicular heat stroke fatalities in the United States between 1990 and 2015. We have heard concerns about the costs of this but also weve heard that with the development of sensors to detect the presence of other vehicles, we might as well go ahead and spend the extra 30 to 50 to do the heat sensors. You, mr. Art with schneider. You already have the audi mmi connect app for cell phones. With this level of precise sensing and mobile connectivity, can that jumpstart the provisions and save the lives of children in the back seats . Others might want to comment on this. I appreciate the opportunity to respond. The ability to save lives in vehicles, regardless of how the lives are lost, is a priority for audi. To use Smartphone Technology or wireless or anything to improve the safety of vehicles is in our best interest. This is yet one other example of how we have shown a commitment to safety and how we believe that the passage of this bill and the ability to greater connect cars is important. How close is audi to this capability . I cant speak to that directly but i can give you a response after the hearing. Anybody else want to comment . Mr. Kentleyklay . Senator, i thank you for your question. I think it is important to understand there are two directions this technology will develop. The first is automobiles that are sold to customers. They have increasingly automated functions. I cant speak to hot cars in that category. The category that zoox is developing, we dont sell the car but own and operate the car in the city and customers pay per minute, per mile. It is designed to be deployed for up to 16 hours. We expect a utilization for up to 50 to 60 . We would condition the cabin. It is never parked for a long time, getting hot. The ability for that issue to be eradicated, i would say, is complete. As we develop centers for interior occupancy sensing and driver monitoring, these technologies can be used to do that. To detect occupants in the car and the temperature, and provide a warning. Those are things we are looking at. We have heard questions about infrastructure and we have heard questions about crosscountry trips. We Hope Congress is about to get a recommendation from the administration about an infrastructure bell. Ill. Nfrastructure b what do we need to include in infrastructure legislation that could facilitate the development of Autonomous Vehicles . Thats another great question and one where we have to take this initiative in the right perspective. While many would like to think that tomorrow we are going to see Autonomous Vehicles connected and taking us where we want to go, the reality is that this will be a longer term, more of an evolution than a revolution. Specifically, what do we need in an infrastructure bill today is not something i dont think anybody can comment on specifically. What we do need is the ability to put more vehicles on the road, to test them and understand where the pinch points are, where the safety compromises might be and to be able to very accurately and clearly communicate that to an administration and a legislature that has the ability to enact and improve those conditions. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank chairman thune and Ranking Member nelson for posting this meeting. This is the best attended Committee Meeting i have been to since i have been a member of this committee. Maybe we need to have more meetings at the auto show or more hearings about an incredibly exciting topic. It is a pleasure to be here with the industry. Senator thune, thank you so much for your leadership on this bill. We all saw his passion and opening comments. The fact that i enjoy working with him, because he is a nononsense senator. You can tell that by the fact that he asked the three Big Questions out of the box, no nonsense, but lets get right to the core of this. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator nelson, thank you for being there every step of the way and working with all of us to make this a reality. I agree, this technology is transformative. You could call it disruptive or creative, it is all of those things. I believe it is the biggest thing to happen to the Auto Industry, since the first car came off of the Assembly Line. We all know that was a pretty big deal for the Auto Industry to have an Assembly Line. This will be equally as big and happening faster than i think the public realizes, given the fact that General Motors, as senator nelson mentioned, has already announced by 2019 to have these vehicles. Ford Motor Company is going to have a selfdriving car off of their Assembly Line by 2021. Other companies are making senator nelson mentioned, has similar claims. I was just at the Detroit Auto Show earlier last week which is , an incredible show. They were featuring a number of selfdriving cars, including the ford motor selfdriving car that they are working on and testing in ann arbor, michigan. It delivers dominos pizzas to your door, which is innovative and one example of all the things that are going to happen as a result of this. In order for that to happen, and this topic has already been brought up, about consumer trust. We are certainly aware of that. You have to win trust. This is a new thing for consumers. They have to feel comfortable. Us gaetzlation before a requirement that the department of transportation work with industry and other Government Agencies to advance responsible Consumer Education. Central to that is to understand what these cars can and cannot do. Before we get to level four and five, there is also an issue the car may not do everything you think it is and expect it can and something bad will happen as a result of that. If those kind of accidents occur, we can expect to have extreme consumer pushback on this if we are not doing it right and in a way that fully informs consumers. My question to you, this is required in the legislation, as to how will we accomplish that to make sure before anybody gets in that car they understand what this car can and cannot do . How will you react to it given that requirement . I may differ a little from some of the other panelists. I think that open city testing alone is not the right option. It is only one piece of a very thorough and integrated approach to testing. The problem with open city testing is that your events are controllable. World, you cant control the events. It is hard sometimes to absorb them and certainly hard to repeat them. I think you need a holistic and integrated record to testing to build the trust. It includes simulation and immu and an environment where you can focus on the test cases. Senator nelson says, when someone makes a uturn in the middle of the road, that doesnt just happen once in a million times unfortunately. For instance the tesla that was , in the Automobile Accident where a white truck pulled out and the sun sensor couldnt see it and it ran into it. There will be a vehicle that is going on a road to kentucky that has potholes and no lanes and a horse will run out in front of it. Those are the rare events that you are not going to be able to get in the city, exclusively. Build anto infrastructure that allows you to test those cases. For those cases where it doesnt work, what can we do to improve that . That will take a little bit of time. Anyone else . Thank you, senator peters. I would say as i mentioned before, this awareness and education of the consumer, we have a duty as an industry to do this. I would liken it as to when we introduced electronic stability control. Theere early innovators in foundational element of automated driving. We understood to educate the public of how to use this particular Safety System and what is happening when it is in use. I think we have to continue to demonstrate through good use cases. I mentioned before an example of parking. People can become familiar in a safe environment and trust the overall technology. I think that is happening as we introduce some of these safety features in the vehicles today like automatic emergency braking or lane Departure Warning or adaptive is control. Control. People will become more familiar as more technology is available on the road, we will continue to build that consumer trust. If i may ask a quick question, you brought up the point of asking testing in city and other environments, including proving grounds. You are one of the Automated Vehicle proving grounds that has been designated. I see mr. Maddox from the American Center for mobility. We have one in michigan. How are these proving grounds operating . How important are they what can , we do in congress to make your work and the other proving grounds work more efficiently . They are involved in overtime as the Technology Evolves. Evolving over time as the Technology Evolves. One of the great advantages is that you can control the events and you can take the fringe test cases and experiment around them and really understand when and where this Technology Works. As you mentioned, there are ten sites across the nation that have been chosen as testing grounds. All of them are going to have a little bit different expertise. I dont think there is a winner take all approach. You need multiple people doing Different Things and integrating it altogether. I think these test grounds can provide a valuable interface to the government to help with regulations. It can provide data and a sciencebased approach to what truly regulations need to be and what ones dont need to be. Many of them are taxed to are attached to universities, which is a great thing, because universities are independent. They dont have anything in this market and can provide real, true advice. Thank you. Thank you, senator peters. Thanks for your great work and continued work trying to get this cleared through the senate. Next up is a senator heller. Mr. Chairman, thank you for this work. Clearly with the size of the crowd we have here today there is a tremendous amount of interest in this technology. Im kind of proud that nevada has been one of the leaders in driverless technology. We were the first state to pass Autonomous Vehicle legislation in 2011 that paved the way for testing. Last year, nevada also passed a full implementation of Autonomous Vehicles for personal and commercial use. We now have autonomous trucks and buses that are testing on our roads. So in nevada we have nearly a halfmillion seniors. We have about 275,000 disabled individuals. We also have 300,000 veterans. I think my father in law and my father fall into all three of those categories. Needless to say, for these individuals, this technology will bring them greater independence and greater mobility. Having said all that, my experience in this is without telling you my age, everybody younger than me loves this technology. Everybody thats older, they are a little worried about this technology. We have a lot of work to do. I do believe that there is a real opportunity. I know most people on that panel have probably at one time or another had an opportunity to be in an Autonomous Vehicle. I did. About 20 years ago, i was where they had a Hydrogen Vehicle that could go 60 miles an hour on a tank of gas and cost 1 million. Here, tesla has model 3 and it is 35,000 and will go 500 miles and 80 miles an hour. It is amazing how much things have changed in the last 20 years. Last year, i was in an audi with Delphi Technology and able to drive seven miles on the freeway and get off in an Autonomous Vehicle. There was someone in the drivers seat. Their hands were off the wheel, brakes, and gas pedal. Kentleyklay, you talked a little bit about the future. I know senator nelson talked about 20 years from now it sounds like to me that the equipment and the technology you are offering, sounds like 20 years from now, no one will own a vehicle. Senator heller, thank you for your question. I think it was in 1908 that the modelt ford shipped. How long did it take before the Coach Builders were out of business . If you look at historically, it was around two decades. I think with the technology, well within two decades everyone will be driving Automated Vehicles or using shared automated mobility. Thats what we need to do to make the roads safe. Talking rural areas, im part of that 1 of those farmers you were mentioning. We had 303 vehicular deaths last year in nevada. More than half were done in the rural portions, happened in the rural portions of the state. What kind of testing is being done out in the rural portions . Even though it is less than 20 of the population, it still has an above average vehicular death rate. For are we going to do that . Dr. Avent, you talked about animals and how would we ensure in the rural portions where these accidents happen that they are being tested . I am reminding that any reminded that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. To people in rural areas, it might look like magic. Two developers, this is advanced technology. We understand how it works and what we are building. The way of the vehicles are engineered. We dont have to understand it is a horse or a squirrel or a person to know there is something there and we need to stop. We can engineer the vehicles that understand abstractly to understand geometrically to get the requisite safety we need. What we really need to do, take the public, everyone in america, on the journey of how this works, so they can understand and get the assurance they need that it is safe. Let me ask you one more question. Why was it advantageous for you to go from australia to the United States work here as to do opposed to your own home country . Thank you for your question. I think the intersection of creativity, capital, and Computer Science in america is unprecedented. To create the technology we do, we need the engineering depth of talent thats in this country that we can access to scale. We need investors that are brave enough to invest in such an advanced technology. We need the connections that are in this country, because it is integrated to bring the right set of peoples together, even working with you today to make this technology a reality. Thank you, senator heller. Next up is senator hasan. Thank you for all of the witnesses for being here and for the work that you are doing. This is, indeed, very Exciting Technology and really represents the potential for enormous innovation in all aspects of American Life and global life, actually. So thank you for the work you are doing. I wanted to drill down on a couple of things. I happen to be the mom of a 29yearold young man with very 29yearold young man with very severe disabilities. Much of what you talk about is very exciting for those of us who live in a world in which we have a Family Member with a disability. It is also a reminder that people who dont have disabilities often think they know what solutions are for people that experience disabilities and forget to talk to people that experience disabilities. Example being, yes, mrs. Hassan, the entryway is accessible for your son in a wheelchair, to find out there is a little tiny lift without the adequate turning radius to get a particular type of wheelchair in and out. Can you all talk to me about what interactions you are having with people who might represent the Disability Community to really understand and drill down on what the different populations within that community will need . This is an immensely important topic. It is one in a very recent personal experience i came to understand in a much more profound way of someone with a disability and the challenges associated with getting into and out of a vehicle to do some very simple things. The reality is that Automated Vehicles hold the potential for greater selfsufficiency and the ability to provide a basic level of mobility for persons with disabilities. It doesnt exist there today. The way we think about that is really the way we think about engineering almost any system, which is to understand that customers journey, to try to think through the very specific moments that matter and the points of considerable duress that are undergone and to really factor those into our engineering model and to understand what are the differences for somebody. Disabilities arent all the same. There is a wide variety of them. Our work with ada compliance and other pieces of regulation has i a deep respect for the need to provide mobility and transportation for all. This is yet another case where it is a very exciting moment in time. Thank you. Anyone else just briefly . I do have a couple other the second question shifting to questions. Some of the concerns i hear from consumers and constituents is because of the Technological Innovations that drive a. V. , youll have an awful lot of consumer Data Available to you. So the question is, what information will be collected on consumers who purchase a. V. S, whats the industry doing to protect the data from being sold and shared without the consumers consent and how easy can consumers access and change what data is collected and shared about them . Anybody . Maybe i will start. Consumer data, security and privacy is very important. So we believe that first and foremost, we need to protect this data. We need to have the consent to use it. As to the extent of what data will be collected and how it will be shared and used, i think that continues to develop as these Business Models developed. For us, in developing the technology for its first and foremost how we protect this data and data security. Last question which we in 48ably cant handle seconds. I am a former governor. I am sitting here listening to all of the things that state and local governments are going to need to be thinking about to accommodate and help launch this technology, everything from what kind of roads do we build, where do we build them, how do we deal with the reality that there are bad actors out there who would like to try to infiltrate the systems, Software Systems that run this technology. This becomes critical infrastructure. How are we going to partner and deal with that . How are we going to deal with job training for the next generation and for the people who are today going to be displaced by this technology . Lastly, there is always that question in rural america, which is how do we get out this new technology and infrastructure to that last mile where population, or, in my case, in new hampshire, the last twothirds last, thee not the first to everyone who lives in the north country. Twothirds of my state is populated by 52,000 people. How are we going to leverage what we need to leverage and get this technology out to the least densely populated places in our country so that everybody has the freedom and the economic advantage that this Technology Poses . Well submit that in writing and i look forward to working with you on that. X thank you, senator hassan. Senator imhoff is up next. First of all, every time you ask for a yes or no answer, you dont get a yes or a no answer. Im going to test you guys. I have two questions im going to ask, and i am listening very carefully. First of all, mr. Klay, your are the only one in your Opening Statement that used a couple of phrases i like to use one being, level Playing Field, and the other, government without picking winners. Here is the first question. Since we are at an auto show, i want to highlight an issue that is of concern to me and perhaps to others who are here today, which we dont talk much about. The fact that federal policy is. Tacked against liquid fuels this year, the auto show is debuting the most electric vehicles ever, but they dont even make up 1 of the nations auto sales and auto , manufacturers are producing more and more of them. Why . As merrill matthews, a scholar at the institute of policy innovation puts it, carmakers are building cars and trucks the government wants their consumers to have. That means electrical vehicles. In 1975, congress created a law to help with the fuel shortage situation by establishing the corporate average fuel economy or cap a standards. We no longer have a fuel shortage issue. That didnt stop the Obama Administration in california from ensuring standards kept increasing beyond the technology and what they can do to force their electric car fantasies on the rest of us. Consumers want trucks and suvs they make up twothirds of the vehicles sold. Yet these vehicles dont help automakers meet current d. O. T. And epa regulations. So they make more and more electrics to lower the overall mileage at a significant loss. Additionally, taxpayers are on the hook for up to 7,500 for electric and hybrid vehicles. When hong kong dropped their tax credits, sales dropped. People want to make their own decisions. As electric vehicles are forced consumer, the liquid field industries, oil, gas, ethanol, will be wondering why their government abandoned them in pursuit of the california dream. The federal government should not be in the business of dictating to consumers what type of cars they should have for creating winners and losers. This is question number 1 do you believe the federal government should be in the business of dictating to consumers what type of cars they should have in creating winners and losers . Mr. Kalay. With you, yes or no . No. How about you, doctor . No. The question of the government picking winners and losers, that was your main question . No. Do we have time . Yes, go ahead. On the issue of level Playing Field and the government picking winners and losers we believe , the consumers should have the choice. You. Od for all of you, i am proud of you. Now, the last question is, the promise of automatic vehicles, technology will impact all of the users of our nations highways in the transportation system. This would be to you again, mr. Klay, you highlight in your testimony the strong safety benefits that come with more Autonomous Vehicles on the road. Do you believe that these benefits can be or should be realized by all Motor Vehicles including trucks, which are driving on the roads today . Yes or no . Thank you for your question. I believe this technology will expand to all modes of technology and transportation. The rest of you . It could be an advantage. Yes. Thank you. I agree. What justifies the exception of not having this applied to trucks in your mind . I dont think there is an exception. I think that, again, it could be market motivated. I think the technology certainly could help that industry tremendously. Good answer. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator inhofe. Senator lee is up next. Thanks very much to each of you for being here and for answering our questions. We are on the precipice of groundbreaking technological revolution, one that combines Computing Power with telecommunications ability, sensing abilities, so as to change the way the American People interact with their means of transportation, and that has the power to make us healthier, safer. One of the things that i worry about in this circumstance, is that the only thing that can stop this technological revolution from taking place and from improving the lives of from improving the lives of 330 americans is the government itself. I worry, for example, about the push that some are seeming to desire, to depart from our traditional regulatory processes and to add an additional layer here, specifically for you, for this technology. I shudder at the thought of what the government might have done had premarket approval been a prerequisite for some of the technologies that brought the internet to the American People or premarket approval that stifled any of the number of innovations that make the lives of the American People better from day to day. Mr. Kentley klay, i would like to start with you and ask you a question regarding how regulations like nhtsa market approval might stifle innovation in this industry from your perspective . I dont know that nhtsa has a regulation out for premarket approval. Our view is that with the new technology, you dont want to stifle it. At the same time, we need to deploy it in a safe and riskmanaged way. The right way to do that is to have informed conversations so that all stakeholders understand the politics of whats being created and making the right judgment calls about how to bring it into reality. Cracks it is not in your interest. It is not your desire to make an unsafe vehicle, correct . Absolutely not. I would say that today, in the state of michigan and florida and, i think, arizona, as well, you legally could drive a vehicle with no one sitting behind the wheel. No developer is doing that, because they are making the judgment themselves that the technology is not ready. Right. If you did make that judgment call and you went for it, people would not drive that vehicle. People wouldnt purchase that vehicle. People wouldnt buy stock in the company or invest in the company. It would be counterproductive to release the technology prematurely and have people lose confidence in the technology. You are not asking for a regulationfree environment. You are not asking for the government to stay out of this and pretend this is the wild west in which there are no rules . We are asked for an informed conversation in a risk managed way to expedite the benefits. Are there some safetyrelated risks that could result in the wake of it precisely because of an overly aggressive federal government Regulatory Regime . Thats a potential outcome, yes. Isnt there a very real risk with an emerging Technology Like this one where the government sets a standard and that could become the floor and the ceiling, thus stifling innovation . I think standards should be set based on data. We dont quite have the data yet. Until we set standards before we understand what we are creating, we could stifle innovation. Just about two weeks ago, secretary elaine chao, the head of the u. S. Department of transportation, made an announcement that the department of transportation would be seeking public input across the Transportation Industry to, quote, identify barriers to innovation and shape initiatives. I would like to ask each of you in the moment we have remaining with just a few seconds, tell me what you think the Biggest Barriers for innovation are . Well start with you, dr. Avent. I do think the application of all regulatory policies to this industry, because it is completely different and a new frontier and we have to be careful of taking existing policies and regulating based on those. Mr. Kentley klay . I would commend senator thune and nelson on the opening remarks. I think you get into this new era of mobility, the biggest berier to innovation would an incumbent to make it difficult for us to go forward with the technology when we know what we are doing. We must be careful not to over regulates. That is why we are in such strong support of the a. V. Start. I think you are doing the right thing that allows us to continue to innovate and bring them to market as safely and quickly as we can. Well said. I tend to agree. Mr. Schneider . I think you said it in your opening comments. There is a confluence of tech sohnology changes happening that they dont prohibit innovation while we maintain the safety we want to acquire. Senator lee, thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Think all of you. It has been very interesting hearing. I wanted to touch on a subject that i think mr. Mansuetti mentioned in his Opening Statement, the workforce issues. I would imagine it is pretty highly technically advanced degrees, engineering, Computer Science types of innovationists that have gotten us to this point. For the workforce of tomorrow to meet the challenge of the a. V. Technology, you mentioned apprenticeship and grants for stem and professional development for teachers. I am wondering how you think this will impact the jobs of the future, we have heard about it because in the negative way in the development and training. I would like to just remind everybody in the s. T. E. M. Field, women and minorities are very underrepresented. It is important we spur that generation into an exciting field. When you look at the current state we are in when we are developing the technology, the technology is very exciting. We are able to attract a lot more of these s. T. E. M. Candidates into areas like autonomous driving. If you look at the Automotive Industry, that has been kind of stigmafied. Want to go into the Auto Industry, that is perhaps dying . We are now seeing excitement generated and the ability to people to work on this exciting new technology. In the future, the jobs will be changing, the mobility. When we look at just simple case with the automotive itself, whether it is a car we have today, an electrified vehicle or maybe even a shared taxi, with the increased utilization, there will be more types of maintenance functions. Well see new opportunities opening up along all these different lines of how the technology is deployed. In these use cases, as we go to a shared mobility. I think the importance is to continue to train the workforce and educate them and be ready for what will be the new jobs of the future. Dr. Avent, do you have a comment on that . I think the Technology Relevant in this is going to be around new fields, machine intelligence, artificial intelligence, Computer Science based. There are going to be a lot of sensor developments that will have to take place. Technologies around s. T. E. M. And particularly the core s. T. E. M. , engineers and mathematics are going to be relevant. It is not just going to be at the high end where it is now on the development portion . The development portion, but they are also going to have to be maintained, improved. All up and down the scales. My second question involves partnerships. We talked about partnerships. I am curious to know it is going to change the face of the highway in terms of road signs and indicators so the car can pick up indicators rather than the human eye picking up indicators. I am wondering what kind of partnerships you have with Road Builders and state d. O. T. S and local transportation of authorities . I dont know anybody that would like to address that. Avent . We have a partnership with the florida turnpike enterprise, and we are working hand in hand with them on those type of things and experimenting on a closed loop track. What kind of coordination do you have with your local transportation authorities, sign makers all those things . , senator, thank you for your question. This overlaps a little bit with the previous question about infrastructure and spending and should that be deployed in the area of Autonomous Vehicles. Our view is that we are developing the technology to work with infrastructure as is. We dont require new signs, new lane markings or anything like that for the technology to be introduced into the market in scale. If we had that, it would cripple our ability to bring the technology into the marketplace. There is various talk of technologies where traffic lights can talk to vehicles or vehicles can talk to other vehicles or pedestrians. They are interesting in the early, but the problem is if you are actually depending on them, if there is a fault, the system will fault. When developing our systems, we are trying to make sure they are robust without any infrastructure changes. But to hear. Are doing a lot with cities leave around the country with regard to smart City Developments and what they are doing on the mobility front in cities. That has been very interesting. Thank you. Senator yellen. Well, thank you, chairman. Gosh, this has been a very interesting hearing. There are a lot of reasons for optimism and outright excitement moving forward as these technologies developed. I think the thing im most excited about are the potential changes to the quality of life of a disabled person, of an elderly person, of someone who happens to be sight impaired. It is going to give them a new sense of independence to be more mobile, improve their quality of life. We can see them integrating into the workforce more. Mr. Kentley klay, you talk about this in your testimony, how there have been previous mobility ages, i think as you referred to them, and how a. I. Is going to bring on a new mobility age. Could you unpack this concept of a new mobility age for us, please, and just try and paint a picture of how the lives of our disabled and elderly americans might change as this Technology Evolves . Certainly, senator. Thank you for your question. Thank you for your question. The pace of change is accelerating. The previous mobility anyone was the horse and carriage. It was actually around 4,000 b. C. That we domesticated the horse and put the axle on the wheel and that gave us a coach. That was a huge change. We could move goods as a much faster rate. That was 6000 years ago. It looks like we are about to leave the automobile age, which has been here for around 130 years. It is a much, much more compressed time span and go into the age of fully automated transportation, which is coming. There is no unobtaining that unobtanium that needs to be created to create this technology. We understand what we need to do. It is now just a lot of elbow grease to make it ready for commercial operation. The changes happening. Many people have commented that this technology will increase access. Our Mission Statement is connecting people and places. Thats people without qualification. Thats what we want to enhance. Next is anyone have anything to add . If you look at a lot of industries, they start out as a craftsman model and become more efficient overtime. In the case of transportation, it still is a craftsman model. We teach a driver how to drive. They get behind the wheel. It is a natural progression of that industry to move over to a softwaremanaged industry. They become more efficient. As part of that, we dont have to teach people how to drive and you improve access to a lot of people that generally dont get that. Let me touch on the workforce of the future. From the manufacturing and professional Development Programs to apprenticeship programs, continued career and Technical Education we know will be needed to alleviate any shortfall in the workforce and make sure workers have the skillset required to fill the jobs of the future in this space. Could you discuss what role you see moving forward for government, particularly the federal government but maybe government generally, in making sure that Companies Like yours will have access to the Skilled Workforce they need . I think thats going to be very important in the future. As we look today, there is a shortage of skilled workers. We need to continue to expose and be able to train and qualify the workforce of the future. I think that comes with a very it needs a partnership between state, local, federal officials, as well as industry. To need to look at it k through graduate education model and getting those things to Work Together. Many times we see that there are disconnects when you go through certain education systems. We are trying to partner not only with universities but also, for example, where we are working, where we are heavily involved in manufacturing in the southeast working together with southeast working together with states, with the state universities, the technical colleges, universities to ensure that the right training is being applied and that we are training people at the right time in the right skills that we need. We have a very Good Partnership and we need to continue that. From a policymaker standpoint, i see one of the challenges being trying to work with you to determine what skills are generalized, which skills are specifically needed for this emerging sector, if you will, of the economy and which skills are Firm Specific and ought to be invested in by Companies Like bosh, for example . The last thing i want to add, i want to commend those responsible for drafting this legislation, for working with all the stakeholders. I understand principle d compromises are required and i have high confidence this is going to become law and i will be supportive. I still do lament the fact that we have limited this to Passenger Vehicles and not incorporated trucks into this legislation. I think we could save a lot of lives and improve a lot of lives if we were to broaden the scope of it. With that said, i will end on an optimistic note. Thank you once again for being here. Thanks for holding this hearing. Mr. Chairman . Thank you, senator young. That view you articulated on trucks is one that i share. I hope that at some point we can get that aspect of this important debate addressed. Senator blumenthal. Thanks, mr. Chairman. I want to begin on an optimistic note and thank this excellent panel for giving us a view of the future with this exciting, wondrous technology that will give us a brave new world in automobiles and perhaps beyond automobiles, intrinsic in general. I want to avoid appearing to be an automotive neanderthal but simply express a couple of reservations about potential, irrational exuberance when safety is at stake. I want to avoid creating another generation of cars that may be unsafe at any speed. We know from our experience that the simplest of devices in automobiles right now, ignition switches, that malfunction, or safety bags that are killers, as a number of my colleagues know, can potentially pose great dangers. Right now, collision avoid ance technologies such as , automatic emergency braking have been proven, available and offer substantial safety benefits. They have been recommended by the federal government, by safety authorities, by consumer advocates, and, in fact, mr. Mansuetti, 73 of audis sold last year had aeb systems. They are doing way better than many of your colleagues because they sell only about 19 according to 2017 model statistics. I assume you would agree that making Collision Avoidance system standards should be a top priority for 2019 . Yes. From a i think that is pretty well documented. We do support the further infusion of that technology into our fleet. So that something as simple as a. V. Technology and i know mr. Mansuetti, you produce it, so you would agree, can help save lives. Gm has said it is going to be manufacturing Autonomous Vehicles without steering wheels or pedals by but nissans rnd 2019. Chief has said, quote, we will always need a human in the loop. At ces earlier this month, as you know, mr. Kentley klay, phantom auto demonstrated how a car in los angeles can be remotely controlled by a human operator in mountainview, california. I understand your company has a patent on this kind of operation technology. So my question to you is, what kind of fallback system would you envision, perhaps making use of this technology or a Similar Technology in the vehicles that will be under your control . Thank you, senator. Thats a great question. I think the headline is that this Technology Fully realized is going to be incredibly safe to the point that we are going to look back to the age of the automobile and say, wow, we were super reckless allowing that carnage on our roads. I think you will have society having that judgment call within years. 10 how do we achieve that end point . Not to get too deeply in the technicals but our vehicles are engineered with main computers. There is a main computer, a backup mind that and a backup behind that and they are on different power button. Whether there is a hardware or software fault, our vehicle is designed to stop itself in its lane and be put in a minimal risk condition, taking techniques used in aero space. I dont think there has been a fatality in aviation in eight years. Byse airplanes are all flown wire systems. It is partly a Public Education campaign. We are very confident we can engineer these vehicles to be robust and safe. You would view teleoperation as having a role in the future of your vehicle . When your model is to have Autonomous Vehicles deployed, you are still going to need a command center in that city that has human in the loop to deal with vehicles if they have an issue and customers as well. Thats part of our model. Thank you. Time has expired. I have more questions, but maybe we will have a second round. Thank you, senator blumenthal. If you want to ask another question, go ahead. We have a little bit of time and if these guys dont mind. If anybody else has any final questions. Thank you, mr. Avent, on this issue of teleoperation, what role do you they that should have in anticipating ordealing or dealing with unexpected events . Do you envision teleoperation as having a role . You mean Remote Control where you have a user somewhere else, not in the vehicle . Exactly. I think thats maybe a wrong path to go. It could be an interim. I think it is more appropriate to go from having a Vehicle Driver in the vehicle to fully autonomous. I think military certainly has experimented and done a lot in teleoperation with uavs and drones and all. They work and they are safe. I they are safe. I think that it doesnt meet the full benefit of going to Autonomous Vehicles. Let me ask all of you having taken gms statement that we will have avs on the roads by 2019. How soon in your view will we have level five, safe, Autonomous Vehicles . Maybe we can go down the line and get a prediction, in terms of years from now. I think there is a common thing that says technology is overrated in the nearterm and underrated in the longterm. I longterm. I think it is going to be longer than probably many technologists believe. I think a big part is going to be the adoption of it and the trust, more so than the technology itself. I would say ten years if i was a betting person. 10 years. Mr. Kentley klay . I think there is a shell around for this technology in early adoption and mass adoption. I think around 2020 you will see fully Automated Vehicles ondemand working in confined, geofenced areas in similar locations. As the technology is improved, that will expand. Show less that will expand. Thats a more confined area in three years and then maybe consistently two to three years. Mr. Mansuetti . At bosh, we agree with mr. Clay. By the end of the decade, we will see these use cases emerge in limited areas. In the next decade, increasingly more rollout of the technology. By the end of the next decade, i think you will start to see fully autonomous level five zero goals in all cases. Level five vehicles in all cases. I think in general we would agree with that timeframe. Again, just to reiterate, this is going to be an evolution and the benefits and full benefits of Autonomous Vehicles really come from not just a single use case or a handful of use cases, it comes from a preponderance of those used cases. Over the next decade, we are going to see these enter the fold one by one. In the near term, we will have some pretty serious progress. I want to close with a final question recognizing the reservations that have been expressed about the overinvolvement of government and premarket approval. As one of my colleagues said. Nobody is for overregulation or overinvolvement by government but sometimes standard are necessary and enforcement of those standards are critically important to saving lives and mr. Kentley klay you say in your testimony you would all agree that standard should be databased, driven by real facts from the real world. So my question, i think, finally to the panel is how do we make sure that the government is receiving the kind of data it needs to make smart decisions about how to protect consumers . Anybody who wants to volunteer is welcome. With Automated Vehicles, no one can do it alone. It takes a coalition, a collaboration, a partnership. That includes the government. We will continue to collaborate openly so we make good, sound decisions an we dont overregulate and provide framework that allows us to move forward in the future to bring this technology to life which Everyone Wants as quickly an as and as safely as possible. Mr. Avent . I agree with that. There is not going to be one industry or one type of person that is going to solve this problem. It is going to take a collection of lots of people. I think consortiums, everyone working together to develop the technology is very important. You would all agree, i assume, that government does have a role to play in protecting safety . In fact, in developing this technology, the reference was made earlier to the internet. In to the internet. In fact, the internet was the result of a partnership, a continuing partnership over many decades of private industry, ac government, and the principally the military as is , demonstrated very dramatically and powerfully by a book called the innovators written by walter isaacson. Anybody who has a question about that partnership should read the it provides a useful template for this new technology. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator blumenthal. And we have in our bill safety requirements that address a lot of those concerns that youve voiced today. And im hoping that the panel has been influential in getting you to vote for the bill. Eventually, when the time comes. I think sen. Peters s a question. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And you are right we have , thought long and hard safety is foremost, making sure we find the middle ground being careful about making sure these vehicles meet standards before they get onto the road. Proving grounds as you talked about as well which we need to have more government involvement as well to make sure you have the resources to test these vehicles. And well collect the data as time goes on. And a lot of Data Collected and it will get better and better. But the question for me is we have to get to the point, mr. Klay where we deal with hundreds of deaths on the highways and hundreds of thousands of debilitating injuries. We are on the verge of making major progress to eliminate all of those when you take out of the human error factor. So thats a major motivator for me and i think most of the folks on the committee to get to that point. The question that i had, and you can comment as you like, the question that came up dealt with the power plant. We talked about factors related to this technology. But one thing that i have heard and i want the panel to comment on, does this mean we are moving to electric power plant . My understanding is that this Technology Works best with electric power plant as opposed to internal combustion engine. Are we seeing that change as well . And you may be first with your company. And if thats the case weve had a number of questions related to infrastructure, that will lead to a lot of other issues how do we make sure we have the infrastructure to support those electric vehicles on the road. Sir . Certainly, thats an outstanding question. And one of those things that we think of as one of three major technological changes driving the industry. In addition to mobility and Autonomous Vehicles is electrify cages. So power plants are moving to the electric variety. Whether those are battery operated or other technologies to use that is i think industry question in the longer term. However, the infrastructure of a vehicle is moving to an electrical one as a whole. As a guy who started his career as a power train engineering designing engines at ford, i can tell you it has moved and accelerated over the past decade. So i would expect it to continue. As for us, we see the future of mobility as automated, connected, and electrified. So it will play a large role in future of Autonomous Vehicles. And to your specific question, yes, some of the things are more easily realized in this architecture for this new technology. Getting around cities on roads kind of sucks today. This technology is going to make it awesome. So we should all Work Together to make it happen. Zoox is. Electric. On top of the fatalities in america alone in 2016 and millions going to the hospitals, there is a study from the mit that came out that sid around that center around 50,000 people in the u. S. Died up to a decade early because of pollution from ability. From mobility. So as our nations forecasted in 2050 most people will live in megacity like environments. So we want to get this in our most dense environments. Ill defer to panelists because they are developing this technology. But as an academic, i dont think that the couple of the technology is neither necessary nor sufficient condition. I think you can do autonomous but i do think electrify cages is Incredible Opportunity we should take advantage of. Sen. Peters a thank you. Senator peters, thank you. Senator nelson. Mr. Chairman, for the record id like to insert a statement of advocates for highway and auto safety as part of our record. Without objection. And, i would like to conclude my remarks and questions by asking dr. Avent, what is going to be the impact of this new kind of quickly developing technology upon our educational system . And i ask the question since my experience is informed by what happened to the whole educational system as a result of the Space Program. Going to the moon in the apollo program, it created a whole generation of engineers, mathematicians, scientists, technologists. What do we see Going Forward here . Thats a good point, sir. Once i had erred that the amount of money we spent on the entire Space Program we saved in communications within six months. And this was, when i was fwh college, which was a long, long, time ago and im sure the statistics are much more compelling now. Certainly this is a big market as we talked about its going to be a disruptive market. Be changing and far reaching into a lot of industries and a lot of in applications. As i pointed out in my testimony, not just agriculture and it will be pervasive. And the technology will be new technology that needs to be developed. Artificial intelligence has been around for many years, but it still needs to evolve a lot and to grow. So i think we will see a new generation of engineers. I think well see much more focus on Electrical Engineering and data analytics, machine learning, those types of technologies. And i think the market will pull from the universities and have much more people going into those areas. Thank you, senator nelson. I have one last quick question. One is, and because lots have been talked about today, and as we have looked at this issue, stake Holder Community highlights emphasizes the fact this is going to save a lot of lives. And my question, very directly is, do you think the safety in terms of lives saves as a result of Automated Vehicles as advertised by the industry will be realized . I mean, the lives saved as a result of this technology consistent with what the reality is . I can say that i am more than optimistic that we will realize the benefits that we are even just laying out today. I dont laying out today. I dont think that there has ever been a moment in the history of the industry where we were on the verge of such a profound improvement both in safety, lost productivity, and just the benefits of living in our cities and the quality of our air and everything that goes with it. So from that perspective, i think that, you know, i am absolutely optimistic that this is going to happen. Thanks. We share that feeling as well. This is a revolutionary technology that will dramatically improve the quality of all of our lives. And with safety, absolutely, we will make tremendous progress in this technology. Okay. Beyond that, these vehicles have pervasive 360 degree perception with no blind spots and always watching. Having developing this technology now three years full time we are convinced it will deliver on safety promise and then some. Even when you account for the once in a million events, its pretty close to zero. So, yes, i do agree its going to make incredible impact. One quick follow up question. I agree with that, when you get out into the future and predictive quality of those predictions in terms of lives saved, i think will be realized. But i think for a lot of people its looking at this transitional period, and ill use as an example senator nelson example this morning the car that made a u turn in front of him. And in a perfectly autonomous world they would have react detected that and reacted accordingly to prevent an accident. But what happens when you have one person in an Autonomous Vehicle and another car, and in that transition period when we have drivers and Autonomous Vehicles on the road, what happens in those types of situations . Im curious what your thoughts are what the safety features might be if a human reacts the wrong way to Autonomous Vehicle. Senator, anyone on the panel, you are welcome to come visit zoox in San Francisco and see how respondent the situations are. Driving in downtown environments everye those scenarios hour. And now is not the time to go into technical reasons how we solve that but we have the methods in place to handle those situations. Ok. All right. One more. Senator blumenthal. Now you really have to vote for the bill. [laughter] i withdraw my question. [laughter] i expect i will vote for a bill. In the meantime, in the time that we are waiting, whether its three years or ten years for the deployment of this technology on a widespread perhaps universal scale, would everyone here agree that safety mechanisms like Collision Avoidance technology, automatic braking systems should be fully deployed, and that his example should be followed by the rest of the industry . I will spare you an answer, mr. Snyder. Absolutely. Absolutely. Back to the one question. One word answer. As a developing 100 Autonomous Vehicle, we already have those systems in place in our architecture. You do . Yes. Thank you all. Thank you. Before we close out, i want to ask consent to place in the record testimony from nxp semi conductors as well as testimony submitted from honda innovation changing automated industry. We will include those without objection. So i would like to say to the members of our panel, if our members could get questions in, we would like to get those responded to and complete the record in two weeks. So if there are written questions that come in response to this hearing, do your best to get those back to us. The answers back to us as quickly as possible. It would be greatly appreciated. And i want to thank the crowd for being here today. Its good participation from our audience. And how about we give all these folks a hand. [applause] thanks again to our panel. Thanks to while of you for being here. In this meeting is adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer january 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the vietnam wars tet offensive, where viet cong and north Vietnamese Forces attacked more than 100 cities, towns, and outposts across south vietnam. American history tv will be live this evening at 7 00 for the discussion of the battle with mark boughton, author of way, 1968. Live coverage this evening over on cspan3. Worldverage of the economic summit in dominoes, switzerland continues with chancellor Angela Merkel speaking on the future of europe and digital innovation. She spoke about the need for European Countries to be at the forefront of technology, and the discuss of populism. [applause]