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U.S. NEWS Thursday 9 January 2020
New U.S. plan keeps autonomous vehicle standards voluntary

By TOM KRISHER lectual property and mod-
AP Auto Writer ernizing regulations, and
The Trump administration facilitating coordinated
on Wednesday unveiled standards and policies.
its most recent round of "The goals are simple, clear
guidelines for autonomous and consistent," she said.
vehicle makers that rely "Improve safety, security
on voluntary standards de- and quality of life for all
spite calls for specific regu- Americans."
lations. Other areas of focus in-
Transportation Secretary clude security and cyberse-
Elaine Chao announced curity, ensuring privacy and
the proposed guidelines in data security and enhanc-
a speech at the CES gad- ing mobility and accessibil-
get show in Las Vegas, say- ity. But the guidelines offer
ing in prepared remarks few specifics on how the
that "AV 4.0" will ensure U.S. government will accom-
leadership in developing plish the goals or put the
new technologies. principles into force.
But the guidelines fall short While the guidelines say
of expectations of auto that the U.S. government
safety advocates and the "will promote voluntary
National Transportation consensus standards," there
Safety Board. In Novem- are few details on what the
ber, the NTSB, which inves- standards should say. In this Sept. 12, 2017 file photo, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announces new volun-
tary safety guidelines for self-driving cars during a visit to an autonomous vehicle testing facility
tigates crashes and makes "Voluntary consensus stan- at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Mich.
safety recommendations, dards can be validated Associated Press
condemned a lack of state by testing protocols, are
and federal regulation for supported by private sec- tail," she said Wednesday. tracted human safety driv- tive in evaluating their own
testing autonomous vehi- tor conformity assessment "This is a science experi- er was the main cause of safety assessments," NTSB
cles. schemes, and offer flexibil- ment playing out in real a fatal 2018 Arizona crash Chairman Robert Sumwalt
The NTSB said Chao's de- ity and responsiveness to time on our roadways with- involving an Uber autono- said at a Senate hearing in
partment failed to lead in the rapid pace of innova- out any safeguards or as- mous test vehicle that ran November. "There needs to
regulating the new tech- tion," the document says. surances." down a pedestrian. be a federal look at these
nology and put autono- The government will en- The Trump administration, Among the NTSB's recom- assessments to make sure
mous vehicle advance- force existing laws to ensure she said, seems to think mendations were that NHT- that they are done prop-
ment ahead of saving lives. companies don't make de- that innovation and regula- SA require car developers erly."
In her remarks, Chao said ceptive claims about the tion can't exist at the same to submit safety reports, NHTSA is the government's
that AV 4.0, a joint effort capabilities or limitations of time. Her group wants to and that NHTSA review the road safety agency and
between her department autonomous vehicle tech- see the government set plans to make sure com- part of Chao's department.
and the White House, uni- nology, according to the minimum standards, like it panies have safeguards in Its acting administrator,
fies autonomous vehicle document. did with the requirement place that require human James Owens, told sena-
work across 38 federal de- The guidelines will be pub- for seat belts, and let the in- safety drivers to pay atten- tors that the agency will re-
partments and agencies. lished in the Federal Reg- dustry go beyond them. tion to the road. view the NTSB recommen-
It also establishes a list of ister, followed by a public "Regulations should inspire Currently the reports are vol- dations. The agency pre-
government principles and comment period. innovation," Chase said. untary and only 16 of about viously has said it doesn't
says that safety is her de- Cathy Chase, president AV 4.0 comes less than 80 companies testing self- want to stand in the way of
partment's No. 1 priority. of Advocates for Highway two months after the NTSB driving vehicles have filed innovation in autonomous
"It recognizes the value of and Auto Safety, a Wash- criticized another federal them, according to the vehicles because they
private sector leadership in ington, D.C., nonprofit, agency, the National High- NTSB. "The manufacturers have tremendous life-sav-
AV research, development called AV 4.0 a "regurgita- way Traffic Safety Adminis- are not going to be objec- ing potential.q
and integration," she said. tion" of voluntary standards tration, for failing regulate
The principles include pro- that have not held the in- autonomous vehicle test-
tecting users and commu- dustry accountable. ing on public roads. The
nities, promoting efficient "I would say it's high on criticism came just before
markets by protecting intel- promises and light on de- the board found that a dis-

Company hired to extract cargo ship

months after it capsized

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — to remove the Golden Ray SMIT, the maritime emer-
A Texas-based salvage cargo ship, The Brunswick gency contractor that
company will cut up and News reported. The ship, originally responded when
remove a 656-foot (200- roughly the size of a 70-sto- the ship capsized on Sept.
meter) shipwreck from St. ry office building, has sat 8 while heading out to sea
Simons Sound off the coast overturned in the sound for with a cargo of 4,200 vehi-
of Georgia. four months. cles. T&T Salvage was cho-
The Coast Guard's Unified T&T Salvage was chosen sen for its extensive experi-
Command has hired T&T Tuesday from among six ence in the field of mari-
Salvage LLC of Galveston bidders, including DonJon- time demolition, Graff said.