New proposed regulations for self-driving vehicles in Pennsylvania would allow operation without an emergency driver in the vehicle as long as the vehicles meet certain specifications.
The state Department of Transportation last week released an 11-page draft policy prepared by the state’s Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Committee. The agency is accepting comments until 5 p.m. Thursday and will discuss them with the committee to decide whether the proposed policies should be changed.
Once the guidelines are approved, they will come into effect immediately.
The proposed guidelines are a follow-up to the state legislature’s passage of Bill 130 in 2022 to regulate the use of self-driving vehicles. The state has been a leader in developing rules of the road for self-driving vehicles, as much early technology development and testing for these vehicles took place in the Pittsburgh area, first at Uber and later at companies like Aurora and Motional.
The committee began its work in 2018, when self-driving vehicle development began and former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto invited developers to the city to work with industry leaders at Carnegie Mellon University. Over the years, PennDOT used a series of voluntary guidelines to oversee the industry while it worked with developers on a formal set of operating rules.
These guidelines are now being reviewed before they are implemented.
In addition to allowing vehicles without safety drivers, another difference is that the guidelines require that self-driving vehicles be clearly marked so that other drivers and emergency responders can see that there is no one in the vehicle responsible for controlling it.
The guidelines also require developers to comprehensively record and report every hour that vehicles spend on the road without a driver, and accidents and other emergency situations must be reported immediately.
Once the guidelines come into force, project developers will have to comply with them or risk having their operating license revoked.
Although Pennsylvania is at the forefront of developing operational technology and policies, other states such as Arizona, Nevada and Texas already have tandem trucks and cars on the road without drivers. That’s because those states have long stretches of mostly straight, flat roads and a year-round warm climate, unlike the hills, curves and winter weather here.
Pennsylvania has therefore observed developments in other states and learned from their efforts and is now ready to expand the use of self-driving vehicles here.
Ed covers transportation for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette but is currently on strike. You can email him at [email protected].
