On February 4, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing titled, “Hit the Road, Mac: The Future of Self-Driving Cars.” The hearing followed mid-January’s House Energy and Commerce’s hearing, “Examining Legislative Options to Strengthen Motor Vehicle Safety, Ensure Consumer Choice and Affordability, and Cement U.S. Automotive Leadership,” which included discussions of drafted and introduced legislation around federal autonomous vehicles legislation.

Wednesday’s Senate hearing revealed that while there is support for the autonomous vehicle industry from both Democrats and Republicans, members on both sides of the aisle wanted reassurance from the industry related to impacts on labor, cybersecurity and data privacy, and ensuring ongoing safety standards with a more limited federal workforce. Members were generally positive about providing greater federal legislative guidance for the regulation of autonomous vehicles especially in the context of outcompeting Chinese manufacturers. However, there was some disagreement about whether surface transportation reauthorization will be the appropriate avenue for this legislation.  

Witnesses: 

• Mr. Lars Moravy, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Telsa 

• Dr. Mauricio Peña, Chief Safety Officer, Waymo 

• Mr. Jeff Farrah, Chief Executive Officer, Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association 

• Mr. Bryant Walker Smith, Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina 

Opening Statements 

In his opening statement, chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) prompted the potential positive impacts of autonomous vehicles (AVs) including reduction in human factor risks such as drunk and distracted driving, expanding mobility options for disabled communities, and reducing time spent driving. He also said that these technological advancements will not reduce jobs but will instead create new opportunities in engineering and mechanical and infrastructure support. Sen. Cruz said clear policies in Texas around autonomous vehicles have enabled innovation and said the lack of a clear federal framework is a risk to US roadway safety and competitiveness. Sen. Cruz said a federal framework is not a mandate for AV usage, but it would expand optionality for American consumers and help American companies in competition with China. Cruz advocated for inclusion of AV language in surface transportation reauthorization.  

In her opening remarks, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) agreed with the need for a strong federal approach but disagreed that surface transportation reauthorization is the current legislation to do this. She also raised concerns about the current capacity at NHTSA due to a loss of 25 percent of its employees over the past year. She said the new technology requires a new approach to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), strong safety oversight, and clear pathways to safe beta testing and deployments. She also highlighted concerns from safety advocates and insurers about federal preemption and concerns from the Teamsters about the impact on trucking jobs. She expressed additional apprehension due to raised concerns about Telsa’s autopilot’s involvement in fatal crashes and the marketing of autopilot as autonomous when continuous human supervision is needed. While Sen. Cantwell agreed with the point that current roadway safety statistics call for safety improvements, she said that this does not mean that AVs should operate without clear and proven safety guardrails.  

In his opening remarks, Moravy (Tesla) emphasized the need for a federal framework to modernize and equip NHTSA for AV deployments and to support the deployment of AVs across the country. He also highlighted Telsa’s large domestic manufacturing footprint and the potential of autonomous vehicles to expand mobility access and reduce accidents due to human behaviors. In his opening statement, Peña said Waymo is making autonomous driving a reality for people in the Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Miami, growing from a Google moonshot 17 years ago. However, he said American leadership requires a federal framework to overcome the existing legislative fragmentation across states. He also emphasized Waymo’s safety record and internal data showing first 170 million miles to have been ten times less likely to be involved in a serious crash than a human driver.  

In his opening statement, Farrah (AVIA) presented action on a federal framework as a choice resulting in binary outcomes. Under the scenario in which Congress moves forward, Farrah provided an optimistic picture of America serving as the global leader in AVs, gaining domestic, and setting international standards. Under the scenario in which a federal framework is not adopted, Farrah said that China will move ahead as the global leader and American roadways will remain unsafe. Farrah advocated for a federal framework requiring a safety case, providing a national AV safety data repository through NTHSA data collection, and modernization of vehicle standards. He said that a federal framework would not be replaced by but would rather complement state laws.  

Professor Smith provided a more cautious perspective on moving forward on federal AV legislation. Smith agreed that US roadways are unsafe but said viewing AVs as a panacea that will blind lawmakers to potential risks. He spoke positively of the humility shown by engineers working on AVs and advocated for greater humility from AV companies in their public relations, especially when vehicles fail. He emphasized the need to develop trustworthiness between AV companies and the public and criticized companies utilizing arbitration with victims in AV crashes. He also emphasized the need for safety cases to be utilized as living documents rather than a one-time checklist. Smith said AVs raise fundamental questions about AI and transformations in the transportation space including impacts on privacy, employment, accessibility, sustainability, and governance. He emphasized the importance of insights from local governments in deployments and said preempting local and state governments would be short-cited. Similar to Sen. Cantwell, he also raised concerns about the capacity of NHTSA and FMCSA to serve as effective regulators as AVs will potentially dramatically expand their responsibilities. 

Safety Concerns and Data Privacy  

Sen. Cruz highlighted recent incidents with Waymos passing school buses in Austin, and Peña emphasized software updates, continuous learning, and collaboration with the school district. Sen. Cruz also brought up a child struck by an AV in Santa Monica. Peña said Waymo’s analysis found that the Waymo mitigated harm that would have occurred with a human driver counterfactual. Peña emphasized the importance of redundancy in case systems fail. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) asked about why Telsa has limited redundancy, and Moravy disagreed, saying that the nine-camera system in Telsa’s creates redundancy. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) inquired about the power outage in San Francisco. Peña said software and procedures are being updated to better respond to a regional power outage.  

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) raised concerns about binding arbitration that Waymo users must sign and said there is a need for some level of liability. Professor Smith agreed and emphasized the need for building public trust and NHTSA capacity for oversight. In response to Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) concerns about bidding arbitration, Moravy and Peña said that the company would take legal responsibility if something occurred due to a hardware or software failure.  

Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) spoke in support of AV development but emphasized the importance of data privacy, emphasizing the potential for data collection through cameras and data breaches as more vehicles come online. Peña said personally identifiable information about riders is not shared and will only be shared due to a viable legal order. Moravy said data is opt-in and aggregated. Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) inquired about cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Peña said by design safety critical systems are protected from external actors. Moravy described layers of control and that firmware cannot be uploaded to a vehicle without going through a two-man key. Farrah said this idea of a closed universe is industry standard and emphasized the incentive on behalf of the companies to maintain security for public trust.  

Moreno also brought up the Connected Vehicle Rule and raised concerns about Waymo purchasing Chinese and Austrian automobiles. Peña emphasized that these vehicle elements are not connected. He asked if disaggregated data would be used by Google to target Waymo users, and Peña said there is no plan to do this. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Ted Cruz raised concerns about AVs serving as roving data collectors for China.  

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) emphasized the importance of sensor calibration. Peña said sensor performance is continuously updates and said detection can occur in real time. Prof. Smith said there is a need to shift from the regulatory mindset of the initial manufacturing of the vehicle towards the maintenance of the vehicle throughout its lifecycle.  

Safety Improvements and Use Cases 

When chairman Cruz inquired about safety improvements, Moravy said that autonomous driving systems do not have the same constraints as human drivers. Peña reemphasized Waymo data showing Waymo vehicles less likely to be involved in pedestrian crashes or crashes resulting in injury or fatalities. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) asked about the platooning in crash reductions since the early 2000s. Moravy said smartphones have added distractions making roads less safe. She also said national standards for autonomous vehicles will help to reduce preventable deaths through texting while driving and drunk driving. She also emphasized the importance of autonomous vehicles in rural areas where people must drive long distances, for elderly people who can no longer drive, and for teenagers. Cruz emphasized the importance of AVs for rideshare safety for young girls.  

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said she is excited for the potential of AVs for disability access and safety but emphasized that these promises cannot be used to ignore the existing safety and accessibility concerns. She said traditional OEMs need to design specifically for wheelchair users and that Telsa does not currently offer an out of the factory wheelchair accessible model. Peña said Waymo has wheelchair accessible rides but not as a fully autonomous service. Peña also said Waymo is looking for an OEM to provide a universal securement system but could not provide a timeline on this. Duckworth emphasized the importance of collaboration with university researchers. She also emphasized the future demand from baby boomers and the spending power of these future users and the need to build for them.  

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) inquired about the impact of differing driving cultures across the country. Peña said before AVs are deployed, they are first tested with humans behind the wheel to ensure the vehicles are prepared for unique environments. In response to Sen. Kim’s questions about safety, Peña emphasized that deployments must go through extensive testing and approval by Waymo’s safety board before deployment. 

Labor and Domestic Manufacturing  

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) emphasized the importance of domestic manufacturing and raised concerns about prioritization of US manufacturing and labor. Peña emphasized that Waymo designs and builds its autonomous system in the US. Moravy emphasized the supply base and Texas-based manufacturing for AVs as a creator of new domestic jobs. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) asked about the economic benefits of outcompeting China in AVs. Moravy emphasized creating localized jobs in service and operations for drivers who otherwise would need to travel long distances. Sen. Lummis said while the jobs will be different through AVs, they will still provide opportunities in the automotive industry. 

Sen. Moreno inquired about price differences between Waymo and Uber and emphasized that while the companies charge similar amounts to consumers, Waymo does not have labor costs. Sen. Fetterman did not speak against AVs but asked how the industry would respond to truck driving workers. Farrah said if someone is a truck driver today, they will be able to retire as a truck driver. He said the industry hopes to have a hybrid network with both autonomous and human truck drivers.  

Remote Operation 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) discussed how autonomous vehicles continue with remote operators and said he has opened an investigation into these live agents. Peña said while these assistants provide inputs, they do not remotely drive the vehicles. He raised concerns about some of these operators being located abroad in the Philippines as a safety issue and due to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Markey also raised concerns about the outsourcing of jobs in the movement to AVs. Jacky Rosen asked about protocols for remote interventions. Peña said if vehicles face uncertainty, it will ask for guidance and potentially updating vehicles as they gain new information.  

Level 2 and 3 Automation  

Markey asked about Telsa not restricting operational design domains for autopilot. Moravy said Telsa L4 vehicles are restricted to an ODD. Markey promoted his Stay in Your Lane Act to define when and where self-driving systems are operationally safe. He also said Telsa calling its L2 vehicles full self-drive is misleading to consumers due to the need for driver supervision. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) emphasized that self-driving features require users to remain alert and ready to take the wheel. Prof. Smith said there are technologies to detect if a human is able to drive a vehicle. Moravy said in L2 system there is eye-monitoring and hands-on detection to ensure drivers are alert. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) said that Telsa must demand that Telsa consumers are not able to purchase third-party devices to override these safety features. Gary Peters also raised concerns about the regulatory gap for Level 3 technologies.  

Federal Framework  

Sen. Peters described the need for a federal framework through the lens of enabling the US to set global standards around autonomous vehicles. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) inquired about making space for local differences under a federal framework, and Farrah said that there will continue to be role for states and localities even with a federal framework. When Young asked about the needs for a federal framework. Farrah said there needs to be a national safety data repository, evolution of rules and regulations for AV designs, and a safety case requirement. Peña said the safety case is an aggregation of analysis down in a logical argument to demonstrate the safety benefits of vehicles. chairman Cruz raised concerns about the patchwork of state regulations and asked about the risks due to this regulatory gap. Moravy said the patchwork produces lots of uncertainty and the need for a clear path forward and FMVSS standards.  

Future Considerations  

As drafted autonomous vehicle legislation is fully introduced and as surface transportation reauthorization moves forward, there are continued questions that members are likely to grapple with in regard to autonomous vehicle regulations, including but not limited to, data sharing and passenger privacy, state and local preemption, impacts on labor and domestic manufacturing, safety case standards, and appropriate marking of technologies. Based upon the conversations in the hearing, it is likely that the industry and championing members will continue to frame federal legislation as an imperative for both international competitiveness and domestic roadway safety and access.