Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a release on Friday that noncompliant Automated Vehicles will not have to wait years for approvals to operate on U.S. roads.
Duffy said he was directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to accelerate the development of automated vehicles by streamlining Part 555 of the exemption process. The exemption allows manufacturers to sell up to 2,500 motor vehicles per year that do not fully comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, the DOT said, including vehicles that lack traditional steering wheels, driver-operated brakes, or rearview mirrors. Instead, manufacturers must show that their vehicles provide an equivalent safety level, and that the exemption is in the public interest.
“The Part 555 exemption process has been rightly criticized for taking years – bogging developers down in unnecessary red tape that makes it impossible to keep pace with the latest technologies,” Duffy said. “We’ve streamlined this process to remove another barrier to transportation innovation in the United States, ensure American AV companies can out-compete international rivals, and maintain safety.”
Streamlining Part 555 will also involve improvements to the NHTSA’s internal processes to speed up processing time, improve transparency and increase engagement with applicants.
“This next step in NHTSA’s AV Framework will advance innovation by supporting the commercial deployment of purpose-built automated vehicles that can satisfy safety requirements,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said. “The agency continues working to modernize the FMVSS for automated vehicles, and in the meantime Part 555 exemptions will play an integral role in enabling the ongoing advancement of our domestic AV industry.”