FMCSA Officials Get an Earful at Automated CMV Listening Session
Federal trucking regulators got a lot of questions at a public “listening session” on highly automated commercial vehicles, but they were quick to admit they have yet to come up with the answers to many of them.
The two-hour Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration session, conducted April 24 in Atlanta and streamed on the internet, was intended to solicit information from the public and those in the truck and bus industry on issues relating to the design, development, testing and deployment of highly automated commercial vehicles.
The agency is working on guidelines for automated commercial vehicles. It will keep its public comment docket open through July 17 but has not yet pinpointed a date the guidance will be completed and made public.
The questions from session commenters ranged from what effects an automated vehicle would have on driver hours of service to what technology could be developed to deal with such equipment emergencies as blown steering tires or brake failure.
Several of more than two dozen individuals asked how to hold a driver’s attention when a heavy vehicle is essentially driving itself, what a driver’s accountability is in a crash when the vehicle is in auto mode and what might be the return on a carrier’s investment in automated vehicles.
Other questions asked on automated vehicles included:
• Will the requirements change for obtaining a commercial driver license?
• How difficult will it be for roadside inspectors to check out automated trucks and buses?
• Will maintenance of the high-tech vehicles be different?
• How will the use of automated vehicles affect the driver shortage?
• How will the government and manufacturers protect the technology from being hacked?
“We don’t have the answers to all those questions,” said Daphne Jefferson, acting FMCSA administrator. “What we’re trying to do is gather as many questions as we can to be able to and start answering them probably between research analyses from the perspective of the industry. Where would you see us going as far as your operations between now and five years?”
Anne Ferro, a former FMCSA administrator and current CEO of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, asked agency officials if they are considering how the agency will credential operators who are testing commercial motor vehicles operating in automated mode and participating in pilot programs on live roads, and if local communities will be aware that the vehicles are being tested in their jurisdictions.
Jack Van Steenburg, FMCSA’s chief enforcement officer, said the agency can’t answer that question yet because it lacks the safety and operational data to do so.
“These vehicles are happening today, and the testing and piloting of them is of great interest to everybody today,” Ferro said. “So the urgency is let us help figure out what’s the process to ensure that operators testing them today are in some way certified to be those operators.”
Sean Garney, director of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, told officials that the technology has the potential to affect all aspects of the trucking industry.
“As this technology is rapidly developing, it is important that government policy and regulations do not stifle innovation or inhibit the flexibility of carriers to choose automated technologies best suited to their individual needs,” Garney said.
Tom Balzer, president of the Ohio Trucking Association, noted that the testing of automated trucks on public roads so far has been preceded by extensive preparation and rehearsal before the public has been notified.
“There’s a gigantic void between what is reality and what is the Hollywood version of what’s going on,” Balzer said. We are a long, long way from a truly driverless truck. I think everybody in this room knows that.”
“We have a timing gap between what is capable today and what we need government to act on today, and what happens tomorrow and what we’re going to be capable of, and when," Balzer added. "We may never see in our lifetime what we’re planning today.”
