Additional funding would help advance the U.S. Department of Transportation’s testing and deployment of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies, nine senators recently told the leaders of a transportation funding subcommittee.
“Connected and automated vehicles are going to be developed internationally if we do not take the lead in making sure these technologies are advanced right here in the United States,” several senators, led by Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, wrote to Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
The extra funding should target DOT’s development of 10 proving grounds for autonomous vehicles, Peters and the eight other senators wrote. In January, the department designated 10 pilot testing sites designed to encourage sharing around autonomous vehicle technologies.
The following month, Peters and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) announced plans to introduce legislation this year that would outline a national framework for self-driving vehicles.
Collins and Reed are chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. The panel is expected to unveil a fiscal 2018 funding measure in a few weeks.
At a Senate transportation hearing last week, it was announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration intends to issue guidance for states authorizing driverless trucks. The agency did not return requests for comment.
