Pressure keeps mounting for autonomous vehicle firms, as U.S. Reps. Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, and Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require more robust data reporting requirements from self-driving car companies, such as Waymo.
The letter from Mullin and Eshoo would require the NHTSA collect data on the vehicles’ total miles traveled, number of AVs on the road, non-collision data that caused obstructions — such as traffic flow disruption — and how often the vehicles were involved in near misses, or were close to a collision.
“Official, transparent, comparable, and nationwide data are critical to ensuring AVs are deployed safely. … This data is essential for cities and local jurisdictions to make informed decisions about how they work with AV companies for safe deployments. This data gap is detrimental to both the American public and companies who seek broader adoption of their services by consumers,” Mullin said in a press release.
The request is a follow-up to a September 2023 letter, asking the federal agency to improve data reporting requirements, stating the NHTSA has indicated the AV companies’ voluntary information sharing frameworks are sufficient.
“We believe NHTSA’s inaction hamstrings policymakers who are dealing with AV issues on the ground, threatens the safety of pedestrians, human drivers and first responders, and jeopardizes the general public trust needed for widespread adoption of this potentially transformative technology,” Mullin and Eshoo stated in the press release.
The letter was also signed by several other lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.
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