Congress Is Trying to Preempt State Robotruck Regulations

Congress Is Trying to Preempt State Robotruck Regulations Despite mounting safety concerns, House lawmakers inserted a provision into a transportation funding bill this week that would block states from establishing safeguards for self-driving trucks and other commercial vehicles — after fierce industry lobbying. After months of industry lobbying, House lawmakers inserted a provision into a must-pass transportation funding bill that would block states’ from setting safety standards for self-driving trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles — despite mounting calls for tougher safeguards. On Sunday, House lawmakers announced a deal on a congressional funding package for surface transportation and highways, which would determine policy and spending for the country’s roads, bridges, trains, and highways for the next five years. Buried in the one-thousand-page legislation was a provision that would grant a longtime wish of the autonomous vehicle industry: override state autonomous commercial vehicle regulations and instead install a light-touch national framework allowing nearly unrestricted expansion of self-driving trucks across the nation’s highways and roads. According to the Truck Safety Coalition, an advocacy group of trucking accident victims and survivors, the proposal sacrifices “commonsense safety measures to satisfy industry interests.” This preemption clause comes after dozens of states have implemented or proposed their own rules for autonomous commercial vehicles. While two dozen states have fully approved autonomous vehicles on their roads, ten states, including New York and Massachusetts, have imposed more rigorous safety and reporting requirements restricting such technologies on their thoroughfares. Pending legislation in New York and other states would furthermore require human operators to be present in every autonomous vehicle. California previously banned autonomous vehicles but revoked the law earlier this year following industry pressure. Newly released National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data show that while large truck-related fatalities are on the decline, more than 5,300 people were killed and