Buckle up, autonomous vehicles finally get federal safety standards – TechCrunch

Autonomous vehicles and vehicles with automated driving functions now have their own set of motor vehicle safety standards, a U.S. federal agency ruled on Thursday. The ruling begins to provide clarity on how passenger safety should be defined in vehicles that are designed without things like driver's seats and steering wheels. The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the first-of-its-kind final rule that updates the safety requirements for occupants in vehicles that don't have traditional manual controls associated with a human driver. The rule, which, among other modifications, changes terminology in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to reflect the spatial layout of automated vehicles, builds on the agency's previous efforts to ensure public safety as automation evolves. Last year, NHTSA issued an order that required AV operators and manufacturers to report crashes to the agency, and in 2020, it launched an AV testing initiative that allows states and companies to submit information about AV testing that can be viewed by the public.