Four senators urged the nominee to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to push ahead on safety standards for autonomous vehicles, Roll Call is reporting.
Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana, and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, along with Democrat Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, made their comments on Thursday during Steven Cliff’s nomination hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Right now, all vehicles are required to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. However, there are no specific Department of Transportation rules for autonomous vehicles.
Voluntary guidelines have been offered by the federal government for autonomous vehicles, according to Roll Call, but there are no rules on the technology.
And Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., noted only 32 of the more than 80 autonomous vehicle companies in the U.S. submit data.
"The voluntary system ain’t working," he said.
Thune, who has been a proponent of AV development, said while U.S. firms lead the world in AV technology "this advantage cannot be taken for granted."
"The U.S. regulatory framework has got to catch up with private sector innovation in order for these technologies to advance," he said.
Meanwhile, self-driving startup Argo AI, Ford Motor Co., and Walmart Inc. announced in September that they will join together to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C., according to Reuters.
The new service will allow Walmart customers to place online orders for groceries and other popular items for autonomous delivery to their homes, the outlet said.
© 2022 Newsmax. All rights reserved.