Seven U.S. senators have urged the Department of Transportation to ensure strong safety standards precede any new autonomous vehicle regulations or legislation.
In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, the senators said mandatory safety standards and oversight must keep pace with automation. When a lack of standards and oversight occur, they wrote, accidents can happen, such as what happened with Boeing’s 737 MAX Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System that was responsible for two fatal plane crashes.
“…as the leader of the agency that regulates both aviation and automotive transportation, your position on autonomous vehicles should be informed by the failures of Boeing,” the letter said. “A clear lesson from the 737 MAX crashes is that new technologies cannot be rushed to market before rigorous oversight is conducted and comprehensive safety rules are enacted.”
The senators also expressed concern that the department’s most recent guidelines do not contain legally binding safety standards and requirements.
The letter was signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Tom Udall (D-NM).
The letter was sent Monday, the day before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing addressing autonomous vehicles and the federal government’s role in their deployment.