Accountability in the implementation of safe systems. As we adopt new technologies, we need better data related to ance and failures. To improve safety performance and public acceptance. We need a safe u. S. Where people can make mistakes and to be human and still make it home on our roads. A focus on addressing kinetic roadway fatalities offers tremendous promise for a Transportation System that is safe for all ages abilities. Researchers are positioned to support this work in collaboration with many partners dedicated to Community Safety and wellbeing. Thank you for your time and leadership and i did welcome discussion on this critical chief executive officer of the association. Representing more than 20 of the leading Companies DevelopingAutonomous Vehicle technologies. Good to have you at the committee here, you can proceed with opening remarks. Chaiis an honor to testify today. A written testimony provides talities and injuries on u. S. Roads. I want to spend my time talking about solutions. How technology can address the roadway safety crisis. And astion for our country is now a reality. Are here. Members have driven 70 million autonomous miles on u. S. Public roads. 293 round trips to the moon. Autonomous vehicles can play an Important Role in addressing roadway safety. The country has hit a wall built on Human Behavior. Like speeding and distracted driving. These errors are the cause of 40,000 deaths on the roads. Evs do not engage in any of these behaviors. What are we referring to when we say using Driver Assist vehicles human driver must be engaged and take over at a moments notice. With truly Autonomous Vehicles, the human has no responsibility for the driving task. A marrge and software and delivers sensitivities and capabilities and reaction times beyond that ng the vehicle a 360 degree view to detect and react to objects and people when hidden from human perception due to other buildings and obstructions. How evs is developed to ce vulnerable road users and re behavior. We have been in situations where a pedestrian steps off a curb that was not visible or a ycle approach from behind and was undetected before it went by. Imagine a world where vehicles do not have human limitations because they can see through objects in every direction. This is the promise of Autonomous Vehicles. Dustry recognizes this is a new technology and we are strongly committed to Building Trust in evs is essential to their acceptance. Last month, announced was a trust principal. Ansparent interactions with the government and officials. And upholding the highest Cyber Security and privacy standards. Autonomous vehicles are an american Success Story. Our country can and must lead on this area globally. Of policymakers. I want to turn to a couple of policy recommendations that will help industry address the roadway safe. Federal leadership imperative. Competitor countries are moving forward with policy frameworks. And taking the lead on ev policy. 25 states now have deployment statutes and are welcomencourage federal action in a couple of areas. The ev start act. Our industry is grateful to both senators for the long standing leadership on ev policy and the recognition that the policy will make the roads safer. Our organization was excited to see evs specifically called out. The working group encouraged Committee Action on a federal framework for the testing and deployment across all modes of transportation and this is particularly important for the competitors in the Chinese Communist party. There is a strong interest for the department of increase safety on american roads. We need action in key areas. For example, a proposed rule on nounced in july, 2023. They present an opportunity to ty and accessibility. It will encourage deployment of nextgeneration vehicles and open up a wealth of data to make progress toward establishing an effective government structure. Another example where d. O. T. Should take immediate action is from granting the request allowing ev trucks to have alternative warning devices when a vehicle is stopped on the roadside. I look forward to any questions you may have. I want to thank you for being here. And thank you for all of the great work that you are doing in the city of detroit. As you mentioned in your opening comments. Detroit has historically struggled with high number of roadway injuries and deaths among the unity. My question for you, can you speak to the importance of safe streets for all funding in tes of enabling various safety interventions that would be possible . Can you speak detroit is addressionand Racial Disparities using this program . Thank you for that question, chairman. For these first part of the question, the program is vitally important for cities like detroit, within the city linear miles of road that are under the jurisdiction and the most dangerous roads are not. This gives us a funding stream about making hard choices between state of good repair and saving lives on safety projects. We can have dedicated funding to focus on safety on streets that have been overbuilt in detroit and have had many crashes and fatalities. To the second part of your question, chairman, how we cioeconomic factors into this. The work that we work on when it comes to the roads that we paved. We will take an equitybased approach on the planning and t teams looking at commercial core doors and the data as well. Take a balanced approach with how we make those types of investments throughout the city. Thank you. In addition to serving as chair of the committee, i am the founder and chair of the senate motorcycle will caucus. I am an avid motorcyclist myself and i share this with a number of my colleagues here. May is Motorcycle Safety month where we raise awar motorcycle fatalities. They perish at a rate 22times that of Motor Vehicle occupants. What kind of technology and interventions are most likely to benefit motorcyclist and users and how can we get those up and thank you for the question, chairman. Probably the most Effective Technology technologies as you know, providing to drivers of cars, motorcyclist, and other road users, to alert them, the drivers of impending collisions or hazards that go beyond their line of sight, so that drivers camakebetter avoid a crash and improve safety on the road talking about road users who do a vehicle. Vehicle to everything technologies would be the Top Technology solutions. Their Technology Solutions being developed by bmw that are very active in the Motorcycle Safety space with what we call digital alerting. Alerting of other Key Information about the roadway conditor weather. Things that would be a safety of life issue and can critical information to a motorcyclist or cyclist. Those solutions are being developed by those companies. In addition, the association s a part of a larger coalition for many these technologies so that we can protect drivers and motorcyclists, bicyclists, and other road users using our system. I strongly believe and support evs and i believe they can play a in achieving our goals preventing roadway fatalities. Case, self driving vehi trust, as you mentioned. There is also a transition for affected workers with this new logy. The committee has received letters from unions representing workers who work in and around vehicles that share their concerns with self driving cars. And we will put thatthe record. How are you and your members working with transportation workers, affected communities on the public to build trust and transparency . What is the best approach to dealing with this challenge as the industry continues to devedents will occur. That is something you need to be thinking about. Thank you question. As i mentioned in my opening statement, the release of the trust principles. One of the things that comes through in that document, we are articulating a very belief with an incredible amount of local engagement. Prior to Companies Going into cities and speaking with local leaders and with first responders, with leaders, in labor and other walks of life. It is important that we are meeting people where they are and explaining what our intentions are, how we can increase safety and how we can help with supply chain challenges with accessibility opportunities and this localized operation is something we are very that the industry has put a significant amount of resources toward. Thank you. We are in the process vote really quickly. I will hand the gavel over to the Ranking Member and i will be back to relieve you. Works for me, thank you, chairman. Thank you for the reply k you for mentioning the ai road we released last week. In that bipartisan road map we encourage committees to continue their work on developing the federal framework for testing and deployment and we highlight that it is particularly critical as strategic competitors, continue to race ahead and shape the vision of this technology. Just yesterday, the uk the ev act became law. They will have Driverless Cars on their road within two years. Where does the u. S. Stand in the global ev competition and what are other countries doing differently in support of innovation and deployment . Thank yo the this, over the course of the last dozen or so years, you have had an incredible american Success Story bringing autonomous driving where it is. This has gone unnoticed by many countries around the world. They want accessibility fits. They are racing to keep up and china is one of those countries. We are firmly in the lead. We have the best companies in the world. We are ahead in technological to public policy. We need a framework put in place. We need action on legislation and action on department of transportation. The federal government is behind where a lot of states tion in recent years. It is incumbent upon us to listen to p1 and to act after studying the facts and consulting with all stakeholders. We have been involved in such consultation in preparing for action for some period of time if the uk is prepared to go ahead, it seems that we ought to be. G in innovating a lot of these technologies. Is that consistent with your assessment . We have the best companies in the world here. We need a framework that can support those Companies Going forward. To move on to another important topic that many of you touched on in your opening remarks, i will get to many of you. 41,000 people died on ou last year. A massive number. I was trying to contextualize this number. I believe that it goes underreported. Compared to other disasters that afflict families and communities. The cdc reports that every year, the number of u. S. Murderers is half that number. I think it was completely accurate when secretary buddha judge said that human drivers are not just problematic, they are murderous. Again, he was talking about the ting the latest technologies. We have been bathed in this level of carnage our lives. Can you tell us, how this will decrease the number fatalities and share any projections on how significantly it will decrease by your estimates . I appreciate the question. The reality is that we have a country. It will take Committee Hearings like this, accidentally this. For our part in the industry, we believe this will be a solution that is out there. The reality is that Human Behavior is what is driving a death and crushes we are seeing. Autonomous vehicles do not suffer from human frailties, they do not drive impaired, distracted, we do not have to accept any longer these types we will continue to see Autonomous Vehicles rolled out deliberately in american communities, that is great news. We will see a reduction in crashes and that is something we need federal partners . Aon. We have to lay a predice of trust enabling that to happen. Call bashar. Thank you very much, mr. Chair, you. It is wonderful to be here with all of you. I have cared a lot about this e when i was a prosecutor on dwis and we had to change our law for repeat felons driving with a guy told the officer that he moved to minnesota when there was not enhanced penalties. Then when i got here, i did a t distracted driving. The the best in the country. Number four for transportation infrastructure and we have so many fatalities due to driving. In your testimony, you know how in 2021, Rural Communities had a fatality rate 1. 5 times higher than the urban rage. Can you Infrastructure Investments in rural areacan Transportation Systems . Thank you for the question, senator. Rural communities face the brunt of traffic fatalities. We have seen that there are significant positive impacts from technologies in particular lane keep which in iowa, lane departure is one of leading causes of crashes. Thay in their lane and not crossed the median strip. In the physical world, many rural states do rumble strips to help drivers understand when they might be drifting from the lane. Communications is the backbone of transportation in the 21st century. It will continue to be more important as we move forward and incorporate advanced technologito our system. At the base level what it allows us to do is to transmit and share critical information in various diers. That is key. We need to be investing in that backbone and the Communications Infrastructure as part of transportation programs and funding. Thank you. What i was referenc on distracted driving, it takes five seconds to drive across the entire football field. Senator young and i at an indianapolis game. Had the biggest comeback in the nfl. It happens. Almost as good asthis week. The football field, to get more serious, five seconds to drive across the football field at 55 ur. Five seconds. In 2022, when people are looking at their phone, 3300 people died in accident one the driver of the car that she was writing and re grab something in the back seat. This happens over and over again. Your that 3 of all drivers are looking at or using a handheld device. In your viewhow can new technologies combat distracted driving . Senator, thank you for sharing the information that you just this is something happening every single day. This is a Huge National problem. The expectation th vehicles that we can help to address that. The reality is that the system does not get distracted and you do not have to have the temptation is too great. To look when they are going a certain speed and we know what happens. We are trying to fundamentally remove the human error that is tent across our country. We want to remove that from across the country. At the same tiws that we have on the books, i will add. Not everyone will be doing that a balance. Of incentives in place for getting laws passed to help with distracted driving. Thank you very much for work. With that, i will turn it back to you, mr. Chair. Thank you, i will recognize senator thank you, senator, thank you all for being here. I did not hear all of the testimony. I had other questions. Here is the one thing ive not heard. The increased weight of the electric vehicle. The president has said that by 2030 we are going of the cars will be electric vehicles. I did some brief stuff on my here. The gmc hummer ev weighs 9000 pounds. The batterwhich is comparable to a hummer ways 6000 pounds. There is a study out there that says that baseline fatality possibility increases 47 for every thousand pounds added to a car. We cant regulate or legislate if we reach these goals which are doubtful, going in that direction. If we are looking at heavier vehicles. This has been brought to my attentinia d. O. T. And if guardrails can withstand the impacts. When you talk about fatalities, mass versus velocity. You are not slowing down. If you have beend go pretty fast. What are we going to do about this . Does anybody have suggestions . Thank you for the question, have to address collectively as we move forward. In america, our no we acknowledge the climate impacts of transportation and sustainable Transportation System we need to prioritize safety. I mentioned in my opening remarks, we need to move to a more proactive approach. Part of that means preventing crashes before they even happen as opposed to mitigating the impact. We need to do both. If we take an approach that is proactive to prevent the crash from happening, i believe we can Leverage Technology tools in the best possible way. Mr. Nelson . Thank you for the questions, we support customer choice. These are heavier vehicles that willtalking about safety. You are speaking our language. We have given a lot of the safety implications involving evs. You highlighted issues about stoppian quickly these vehicles can reach higher speeds. Degradation built infrastructure. Just think of a iparking garage. Size and weight issues. Are there any solutions here . We Dot Solutions yet. We do not have a high penetration of evs in the u. S. Fleet. We should be approaching this as a do no harm policy move. We have not seen effort into thin to address these implications on infrastructure and on safety. We have seen no action. Would be smart to be talking about thof vehicles. If any of the goals are actually met, this will be a large part of our fleet. Thank you, senator. As i spoke about this in my earlier remarks. Mass is a critical factor. This be that these vehicles can of thein our toolbelt address the speed side of the equation. With in opportunities for a lot of the built environment to address speed management. Toopriate speeds in different contexts. We have some technologies on the vehicular side as well related assistance and supported devices. Im not being confrontational, clarifying myself, we would have governors at would not let you go a certain mileage or certain speed. There are bills that say that go then 70 p