AV self-certification makes OOIDA’s ‘bad list’ The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has called the BUILD America 250 Act the “most pro-trucker highway bill in recent memory.” However, that doesn’t mean OOIDA sees no need for improvement. When the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced its highway bill last month, OOIDA immediately supported the legislation for its provisions to fund truck parking, provide restroom access for truckers and prohibit predatory lease-purchase agreements. “Whenever there’s a highway bill, it’s such a large piece of policy that there are going to be things you don’t like in it, and we know that going in,” Collin Long, OOIDA’s senior director of government affairs, told the Trucking with OOIDA podcast. “So, it’s just can we make sure that the good outweighs the bad. That’s really our approach every time there’s a highway bill. This one is certainly the good outweighing the bad.” “The bad” includes provisions to launch a Beyond Compliance program and a pilot program to increase truck weight limits to 91,000 pounds. Additionally, the BUILD America 250 Act would allow autonomous vehicle manufacturers to self-certify. OOIDA opposed the AV provision, pointing out to lawmakers that the use of self-certification for ELD manufacturers and CDL training schools has been problematic. OOIDA said that leaving driverless trucks unchecked would be “the most disastrous yet.” The idea behind the Beyond Compliance program is to reward motor carriers that go above and beyond the requirements to ensure safe operation. Essentially, that means boosting safety scores for carriers that add a bunch of “safety gadgets” to the truck. Critics of a Beyond Compliance program view it as being biased toward large fleets and as a pay-to-play system. The current federal weight limit is 80,000 pounds. OOIDA says increasing size and weight is all cost and no benefit for