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The draft guidance is to be published in the Federal Register for public review and comment.

Related Content

  • October 4, 2012
    Visteon to provide communications equipment for US vehicle-to-vehicle pilot program
    Automotive supplier Visteon Corporation, in collaboration with Cohda Wireless, is providing vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications equipment for the US Department of Transportation safety pilot program. The project potentially offers significant improvements in driver awareness including collision, hazardous road and curve speed warnings and traffic flow information. The safety pilot program is led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and will integrate 5.9 GHz dedicated short ra
    Read More
  • June 13, 2019
    USDoT pledges $15m to two university transport centres
    The US Department of Transportation (USDoT) is to pledge $15 million to two University Transportation Centres (UTC) to advance research and education programmes that address transportation challenges. Elaine Chao, US transportation secretary, says: “These investments in transportation research will help address our country’s congestion and durability challenges.” The University of South Florida will focus on congestion relief while Washington State University will focus on improving the durability of tra
    Read More
  • September 11, 2019
    Congestion could cost Australian cities $40bn by 2030, says minister
    Australian state capitals are paying $25 billion per year on avoidable congestion - and could end up paying $40bn by 2030 unless there is a policy change. That is the stark warning from Alan Tudge, federal minister of population, cities and urban infrastructure, who spoke at Australia’s seventh ITS Summit. Discussing how ITS technologies can help solve gridlock, he described some of the projects which fall under the Australian government’s $100bn programme of transport infrastructure expenditure – suc
    Read More
  • February 3, 2012
    Cooperative infrastructure an aid to environmental aims
    Speculate to accumulate Andras Kovacs looks at how the historical focus of cooperative infrastructure on safety can be oriented to aid emerging environmental aims
    Read More

Highlighted Content