US DoT seeks voluntary AV standards

US authorities have signalled that voluntary – rather than compulsory – standards will be the way forward to integrate automated vehicles (AVs) into the country’s transport system. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued new AV guidance but warns that the new document - Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0 (AV 3.0) - does not replace the voluntary guidance it provided in Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety. “The safe integration of automated
October 11, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
US authorities have signalled that voluntary – rather than compulsory – standards will be the way forward to integrate automated vehicles (AVs) into the country’s transport system.


The 324 US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued new AV guidance but warns that the new document - Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0 (AV 3.0) - does not replace the voluntary guidance it provided in Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety.

“The safe integration of automated vehicle technology into our transportation system will increase productivity, facilitate freight movement and create new types of jobs,” says US transportation secretary Elaine L. Chao.

AV 3.0 is concerned with “identifying and supporting the development of automation-related voluntary standards developed through organisations and associations, which can be an effective non-regulatory means to advance the integration of automation technologies”.

It also says the USDoT will “interpret and, consistent with all applicable notice and comment requirements, adapt the definitions of ‘driver’ or ‘operator’ as appropriate to recognise that such terms do not refer exclusively to a human, but may include an automated system”.

The guidance also states that the DoT is “continuing its work to preserve the ability for transportation safety applications to function in the 5.9 GHz spectrum”.

The DoT says that the document incorporates the results of “extensive stakeholder engagement” with manufacturers, technology developers, infrastructure owners and operators, bus transit, and state and local governments.

The draft guidance is to be published in the Federal Register for public review and comment.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Variable message signs continue to deliver travel information
    February 2, 2012
    Arguably the 'face' of ITS, variable message signs are far from being a passing solution
    Read More
  • GenApi 3.0 reference implementation released
    June 7, 2016
    The GenICam standard group has released GenApi 3.0, a new version of the reference implementation to the GenICam standard. This is a complete re-implementation and has similar advantages to the previous version. GenApi 3.0 enables loading and interpretation of the camera description file several times faster and has a much smaller memory footprint than the previous version. In addition, more platforms are now supported, in particular the ARM architecture.
    Read More
  • C/AV integration is ‘legislative nightmare’, warns ITS UK president
    February 23, 2018
    The integration of connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AV) into existing road systems “is going to be a legislative nightmare”, warned a former UK government transport minister. Giving the keynote speech at this week’s MaaSMarket conference in London, ITS UK president Steven Norris, said: “Don’t underestimate the legislative challenges – which are infinitely more complex than the technical ones. I can’t think of any development in human history which has posed so many legislative questions.” Chief among
    Read More
  • Data helps Ohio DoT get grant money
    January 25, 2022
    Ohio Department of Transportation turned to StreetLight Data when it needed to finalise grant money for a key infrastructure link. David Crawford sees how metrics brought in the cash…
    Read More

Highlighted Content