U.S. Legislative Issues

House Panel Convenes to Discuss Package of Autonomous Vehicle Bills

 

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection held a hearing on June 27 to discuss 14 draft bills that they hope will help speed the transition to self-driving vehicles. Like their Senate counterparts who held a June 14 hearing on the same topic, House Subcommittee members voiced their view that federal regulators, not states, should continue to oversee vehicle safety. This view is also shared by automakers and technology companies worried about the emerging patchwork of state-level self-driving car rules.

The proposals currently under consideration have largely been praised by automaker trade groups, which have called for the federal government to move forward with reasonable regulations. Safety and consumer advocates, however, have expressed concern about ensuring a framework to evaluate safety is in place before allowing autonomous vehicles to hit the road in large numbers. Specifically, the proposals would allow for expansion in on-road testing of autonomous vehicles, which companies want so they can prove the safety of the vehicles and foster popular acceptance. At the same time, the federal measures would prohibit states from enacting a patchwork of different regulations governing the safety and performance of self-driving cars and trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can currently allow automakers to field vehicles that don’t comply with the letter of federal auto-safety standards under certain limited circumstances. One exemption allows carmakers to field test new safety features while another allows for vehicles that don’t meet specific safety requirements but exceed the overall safety of conventional vehicles. Both exemptions, however, are capped at 2,500 vehicles a year, and the latter requires companies to provide the agency with detailed analysis showing how a vehicle is safer. The draft legislation would expand that cap to 100,000 vehicles.

Air Bag Maker Takata Files for Bankruptcy

 

Tasked with repairing nearly 70 million air bag inflators that were used in 42 million cars, Japanese air bag manufacturer Takata Corp. announced it will file for bankruptcy in the U.S. and Japan and sell off its remaining assets to Key Safety Systems (KSS), a Chinese-owned company headquartered in Michigan. Under the agreement, KSS will acquire almost all of the company’s remaining assets, but a reorganized Takata will still run operations related to its air bag inflators that rely on ammonium nitrate, the chemical compound at the heart of the recall.

Federal regulators and automakers say they expect Takata to follow through on its obligations to provide the parts needed to fix roughly 50 million air bag inflators included in the recall that have yet to be repaired. Takata says it "expects to continue to meet demand for air bag inflator replacements without interruption."

The Takata recall, prompted after flying shrapnel from exploding air bag inflators was linked to 11 deaths and more than 180 injuries nationwide, is the largest in U.S. history. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the recall of defective air bag inflators made by Takata will encompass 34 vehicle brands and about 42 million cars in the U.S when it is completed. The agency says more than 16 million Takata air bags have been repaired as of May 26 of this year. Takata was ordered to recall all of the faulty air bags by the end of 2019.

FHWA Releases Annual Urban Congestion Report

 

According to new data from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Urban Congestion Report (UCR), drivers are spending slightly more time stuck in rush-hour traffic than in the past.  The report blames congestion, which is outpacing system improvements gained from investments in gridlock reduction strategies, such as road widening, better intermodal connections, and traffic and demand management technologies.

The 2016 UCR provides the current status of congestion, travel time, and travel time reliability in 52 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. It is currently being used by both the FHWA and various regional transportation organizations to look at current conditions, examine trends, and discuss the performance of the National Highway System for vehicular traffic. The report also highlights relevant successful operational strategies and performance management approaches implemented by State and local transportation agencies.

Overall, 10 of the 52 metropolitan areas improved in all three measures, and 11 declined in all three. Geographically, cities in the Southeast and the West generally saw worsening congestion, while cities in the Northeast generally improved from 2015 to 2016, with the exceptions of Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Across the 52 areas, the number of congested hours increased from 4 hours and 40 minutes in 2015 to 4 hours and 43 minutes in 2016, the travel time index increased by one point, and the planning time index decreased by 3 points.