The U.S. Transportation Division must help the event of autonomous autos, a coalition of teams representing the {industry} warned on Thursday, saying the nascent {industry} dangers shedding out to opponents like China.
“The AV {industry} is at a crucial juncture and in want of sturdy management from USDOT,” the Autonomous Automobile Business Affiliation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Alliance for Automotive Innovation and others stated in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“The division’s help for AV growth is essential to take care of our nation’s aggressive edge,” the letter stated, “with international locations like China aggressively investing and advancing the expertise.”
A spokesperson for Buttigieg didn’t instantly remark.
Self-driving vehicles may save hundreds of lives yearly “as a result of they eradicate human errors like fatigued, impaired, and distracted driving,” the letter stated.
The {industry} faces new headwinds after California in October suspended the allow of Normal Motors’ Cruise robotaxis to check on public roads, saying they had been a threat to the general public following a sequence of accidents involving Cruise autos.
The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) is investigating whether or not Cruise is taking ample precautions to safeguard pedestrians and has opened different security probes.
Laws to hurry robotaxi deployment has stalled in Congress for greater than 5 years.
Cruise’s woes are a big setback for an {industry} depending on public belief and the cooperation of regulators. GM CEO Mary Barra says Cruise should rebuild relationships with regulators.
Final month, greater than two dozen unions urged Buttigieg to do extra to make sure autonomous car security, saying “NHTSA should provoke an industry-wide investigation to find out the true extent of the protection failures behind the scenes.”
