Abstract
Upon maturation, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to provide significant benefit to society. A breadth of partially autonomous systems are already commercially available, and vehicles with advanced capabilities are tested and deployed on public roads. Although the advancement of AV technology is highly anticipated, the future of the industry currently rests on uncertain ground with respect to regulatory oversight. The current industry standards and legal regulations which apply to AVs are only equipped to fully ensure that simple autonomous capabilities are safe. As vehicles become more autonomous, and as driving decisions are shifted from human to computer, a regulatory paradigm shift will be necessary. This article reviews the present state of AV safety standards and regulations, and discusses the potential for regulatory evolution.
Highlights
Current reliance on human drivers to be the “failsafe” for some autonomous vehicles (AVs) is problematic and requires reevaluation of current driver licensing procedures
Perhaps of more concern is that the vast majority of regulations and standards discussed here are only sufficient for Level 1 (L1)-Level 2 (L2) systems, despite the fact that Level 3 (L3)+ systems exist on roads today
This regulatory gap is currently being addressed in two ways: by good faith “investment in safety” by AV companies, and through the development of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Underwriter Laboratories (UL) standard 4600 Standard for Safety for the Evaluation of Autonomous Products [30]
Summary
Each have published guidelines on, or which apply to, AV technology. NHSTA maintains and publishes Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) [21] which largely hold vehicle manufacturers to a set of equipment requirements and certification standards. The framework establishes a process by which Boston can oversee development and restrict access to the city’s roads for self-driving companies These efforts are coordinated at the state-level through the MA DOT in accordance to MA Executive Order 572 [28], and requires establishing a memorandum of agreement between the city and an AV company in order to operate. Perhaps of more concern is that the vast majority of regulations and standards discussed here are only sufficient for L1-L2 systems, despite the fact that L3+ systems exist on roads today This regulatory gap is currently being addressed in two ways: by good faith “investment in safety” by AV companies, and through the development of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and Underwriter Laboratories (UL) standard 4600 Standard for Safety for the Evaluation of Autonomous Products [30].
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