Senate Panel Hears Pros and Cons of Autonomous Trucks
ATA chief Chris Spear testifying on autonomous truck technology to Senate panel on Sept. 13. Photo: ATA, via Twitter
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ATA chief Chris Spear testifying on autonomous truck technology to Senate panel on Sept. 13. Photo: ATA, via Twitter
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While the House has already passed a bill that could help bring self-driving cars to market faster, a Senate panel is taking a more deliberative approach by considering whether such legislation should also help foster the development of autonomous truck technologies.
To that end, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, held a hearing on Sept. 13 with the specific intention of examining the potential benefits of automated truck safety technology.
“Trucks share our roads, deliver our goods, and keep our economy moving,” Thune said in his opening statement. “Including trucks in the conversation about automated vehicles is important as we seek to improve safety; it also puts our economy on a level playing field as other countries around the world deploy automated freight trucks.”
In his minority statement, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), substituting for absent Ranking Member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), pointed out that a bipartisan effort has gone into crafting a draft Senate bill on self-driving vehicles. But he is not yet sold on including commercial vehicles in the legislation, stating noting that “… we have not gotten as clear of an understanding on issues related to self-driving trucks as we have during our countless discussions on self-driving cars. As a result, I am of the mind that highly automated trucks are not ripe for inclusion in this bill.”
On the other hand, Peters said that he “recognize that in the long-term, self-driving trucks and buses are also intended to improve safety on our highways. That is certainly clear.” However, he questioned “assertions that excluding self-driving trucks from this particular bill will result in less safe roads and that they don’t merit special considerations going forward. We …Read the rest of this story
