Owens Gifts Autonomous Drivers
The U.S. Department of Transportationâs National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today has issued a final rule, all 147 pages of it, designed to roll back numerous Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and clarify what they termed as ambiguities in current occupant protection standards, for vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS). These are specifically vehicles that are designed without traditional manual driver controls.
The rule amends several regulations regarding crashworthiness, in effect lessening safety standards for automated vehicles equipped without manual driver controls. The rule also exempts automated vehicles, be it a delivery van or service truck, designed never to carry any human occupants, including drivers, from crashworthiness standards. If it sounds like the automated vehicle could hit your car or truck and not be held liable, you’re getting the gist of some of the DOT-speak contain