Congress Drafts First Sections Of New, Bipartisan Autonomous Vehicle Bill

In the nation's capital, it is a rare sight for all the players in an industry, large and small, to come together and ask for new regulations. The relationship between regulator and regulated can sometimes be adversarial at worst, tense at best. But in the case of automated vehicles (AVs) – a technology whose driving philosophy is reducing roadway deaths and injuries – it has become a shared priority to create a federal regulatory framework to assure safety. But building a regulatory framework for a nascent technology is challenging work: it requires a certain degree of flexibility, gathering a lot of input, and no small amount of elbow grease. Since the beginning of this year, Congressional committees have been engaged in a bipartisan and bicameral initiative to develop AV legislation that will create a path to deployment to ensure companies continue to develop this life-saving and life-changing technology here in the U.S. A federal framework is needed to ensure the safety and mobility benefits AVs promise to deliver happen here at home, rather than abroad.