A new study released by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) charts several local, state, and federal policies now regulating autonomous truck development and testing across the country, and proposes a foundation for autonomous truck standards.
“The pace of technology development in the autonomous truck sphere is moving at lightning speed,” said Jeff Reed, Skyline Transportation president and chair of the ATA Automated Truck Subcommittee. “Our industry needs states to collaborate on seamless policies and regulations, and we need more proactive federal guidance on AT development. Government activities at all levels must be dynamic enough to address the constantly evolving technology landscape.”
The ATRI research notes that while most government rules intend to create a framework that would allow safe testing of autonomous trucks, they can interfere with one another because they involve so many different actions at so many different levels.
This could ultimately impede the creation of a nationwide, standardized network, especially when multiple different rules attempt to heavily enforce certain contradictory aspects — requiring constant control of vehicles by drivers and onboard engineers, when vehicles are supposed to be tested for their autonomous capabilities, for example.