Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) recently praised U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao for changing the Obama Administration’s automated vehicle policy.
In January 2017, a list of 10 sites to be designated automated vehicle proving grounds was released. The list omitted Ohio’s Transportation Research Center (TRC), the largest and most sophisticated independent vehicle proving ground in North America, and placed the center at a competitive disadvantage.
The vehicle proving grounds are designed for the development of safe and effective regulations for automated vehicle technology. Inclusion provides funding and partnership opportunities.
“Secretary Chao and the Department of Transportation should be able to determine its partners for testing this new technology based on merit, not favoritism, and I commend them for leveling the playing field with this announcement,” Portman said. “TRC’s decades of vehicle testing and wealth of relevant expertise are second-to-none, and the Department of Transportation should be able to partner with them if they choose. It’s in our shared interest to work together to create the safest, most effective AV policies that promote American industry and protect human life. I am confident that there is no better place to find a partner in this mission than the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty.”