Regulatory challenges for road vehicle automation: Lessons from the California experience

Steven E. Shladover and Christopher Nowakowski

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2019, vol. 122, issue C, 125-133

Abstract: The development of automated driving systems presents a special challenge to the existing regulatory regimes for road vehicles. Automated driving systems shift the responsibility for roadway and traffic monitoring, decision making, and vehicle control from the driver to the automated driving system, which will necessitate a shift of the responsibility for traffic law violations and crashes from the individual driver toward the manufacturers of the automated driving systems. However, the opportunities for automated driving systems to improve transportation system performance and safety are great, and rapid innovation needs to be balanced against the risks to public safety from poorly engineered or hastily released systems competing for first-on-the-market status. Furthermore, in the absence of clearly defined standards and testing procedures, it is not yet clear how safety can be certified by the developer, a regulatory agency, or a third party. This paper describes California’s pioneering efforts to grapple with these challenges after its legislature passed a law requiring the development of regulations to govern the testing and operation of automated vehicles on public roads, and it provides recommendations regarding what should and should not be incorporated into such regulations.

Keywords: Road vehicle automation; Safety certification; Regulations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2017.10.006

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