On March 10, local time, the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the first Occupant Protection Safety Standards for Vehicles Without Driving Controls, and the specific effective date has not yet been disclosed. The rule says the effective date is inserted 180 days after the final rule is published in the Federal Register.
If effective, this would mean that fully autonomous vehicles would no longer need to be equipped with manual controls such as traditional steering wheels, brakes or accelerator pedals to meet occupant safety protection standards in a collision. NHTSA describes the new rule as a "historic step."
"By 2030, an important part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's safety mission will be to ensure that safety standards keep pace with the development of autonomous driving and autonomous driving assistance systems," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. ”
The new rule was first proposed in March 2020 and passed two years later. This is an important node in the development of the autonomous driving industry, and the safety standards that self-driving cars must have human driver control have changed, that is, self-driving cars no longer need to comply with the requirement that "always have a human driver's seat, car steering wheel and steering column, or only one passenger seat on the outside of the front row".
Steven Cliff, deputy director of NHTSA, said, "In ads-equipped vehicles, the need to ensure human safety remains the same as drivers change from humans to machines, and must be integrated from the start. ”
In February, General Motors and its self-driving technology arm Cruise filed an application with NHTSA to allow the production of self-driving cars without human controls such as steering wheels or brake pedals, Reuters reported.
NHTSA also said that for vehicles designed to be operated only by ADS, manual driving control is logically unnecessary.
At the same time, NHTSA also emphasizes in the new regulations that self-driving cars must provide the same level of occupant protection as human-driven vehicles.
Specifically, the new rules state that children should not occupy a position that traditionally belongs to the driver, as the location was not designed with the protection of children in the event of a collision in mind. But if a child takes the driver's place, the car will not be asked to stop immediately.
NHTSA said existing regulations do not currently prohibit automakers from deploying self-driving cars as long as they have manual driving control systems, and manufacturers still need to apply to NHTSA for exemptions to sell their ADS-equipped vehicles as NHTSA continues to consider changing other safety standards.