CEI Joins Coalition for Future Mobility Coalition on Federal AV Legislation
Dear Chair Schakowsky and Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers:
As companies and organizations dedicated to the safe development and deployment of automated vehicles (AVs) into our transportation system, we would like to thank the Committee for its continued focus on this issue and reinforce the importance of your work. Put simply, the investments being made today by our organizations toward a safer, more environmentally friendly, and accessible transportation future depends on a thoughtful federal legislative and regulatory framework for AVs.
We join today as members of the Coalition for Future Mobility, a group of key stakeholders that represents a wide cross section of auto manufacturers, suppliers, repairers, technology companies, mobility providers, state and local departments of transportation, safety and national security groups, consumers, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Our Coalition was created to highlight the critical need for a federal regulatory framework that allows for the safe development and deployment of AVs here in the United States.
As the Committee on Energy & Commerce holds today’s hearing on automated vehicles, we write to underscore the critical role this Committee and Congress has in establishing that framework, including by providing clarity that affirms existing roles and maintains the traditional balance of responsibilities between federal-state-local levels of government, modernizes federal regulatory processes, and ensures rigorous safety standards for the continued development and eventual safe deployment of AV technologies.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found that human choice or error is a factor in approximately 94% of all motor vehicle crashes on U.S. roads – crashes that took the lives of 36,560 men, women, and children in 2018. By facilitating technologies that could reduce or eliminate these human factors, this Committee can help prevent many crashes from happening – potentially reducing injuries and fatalities on our roadways.
While safety is a critical component in the development and deployment of AVs, these vehicles can also provide life-changing opportunities for those who are not adequately served by current mobility options, such as older adults, persons with disabilities, and those underserved by public transportation. Further, the benefits of these vehicles extend to all roadway users. Our Coalition is committed to AV deployment that can help ease congestion and gridlock, increase economic opportunities, and reduce environmental impact.
Building on the overwhelming bipartisan support in this Committee for AV legislation in the last Congress, our coalition encourages you and your colleagues to redouble efforts to move forward with thoughtful legislation that will help improve safety; provide a technology-neutral path forward to invest and innovate; affirm traditional federal-state-local authorities; and maintain American leadership in the development and deployment of AV technologies. While full text has yet to be released, we appreciate the continued bipartisan, bicameral work to develop the legislative and regulatory framework to help facilitate the development and deployment of these potentially life-saving technologies.
3M
60 Plus
Alliance for Transportation Innovation Alliance for Automotive Innovation American Chemistry Council American Council of the Blind American Highway Users Alliance
American Network of Community Options and Resources Americans for Tax Reform
Aptiv
Argo AI, LLC Aurora
Automotive Service Association
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Competitive Enterprise Institute
Cruise CTIA
Deepen Digital Liberty Dupont Harman Infineon
Intel Corporation ITS America Lyft
Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association Narcolepsy Network
National Association of Manufacturers National Cued Speech Association National Federation of the Blind National Taxpayers Union
R Street Institute
Securing America’s Future Energy Segs4Vets
TechFreedom TechNet
Telecommunications Industry Association Third Way
U.S. Chamber Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC)
U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Tire Manufacturers Via
What3Words
Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
cc: Members of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, Committee on Energy and Commerce