Peninsula Congressman Proposes Autonomous Vehicle Safety Rules

SAN MATEO, CA —In response to federal regulators weakening oversight amid the growing presence of driverless cars, a Democratic Marin County congressman has introduced a bill to require manufacturers to provide more safety data.

Rep. Kevin Mullin's (D-San Mateo) AV Safety Data Act proposes to ensure the public has access to information on the number of driverless vehicles on the road and when other types of road events occur, such as unplanned stoppages or when emergency vehicles are blocked.

Mullin says this type of "consistent" data would help compare the safety rates across several manufacturers and help finally determine whether driverless cars are actually safer than human drivers.

“Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly on our roadways. Yet, there are no minimum federal safety standards and insufficient data collection, transparency and accountability for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving systems (ADS). The AV Safety Data Act will enhance reporting requirements for these vehicles,” said Cathy Chase, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. “Robust data is essential to evaluate performance, detect safety defects and inform sound policy.

As Mullin points out in a Tuesday press release, fleets of driverless cars got their start in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires AV companies to report some collision data, but they are not required to provide other metrics, he said in a press release.

“The public deserves to know how safe autonomous vehicles actually are and that the federal government is working to ensure we’re protecting people on the road,” Mullin said. “The technology behind autonomous vehicles is rapidly developing and has the potential to dramatically improve safety on our roads."

Mullin's bill would codify NHTSA's existing collision data, it would also require companies to record the following to the safety agency:

• The number of miles traveled on public roads
• AV collisions that result in any injuries to other human drivers, pedestrians or bicyclists
• Information on unplanned stoppages and any impacts to law enforcement, first responders, or public transit agencies

Since 2021, more than 3,000 crashes with driverless cars have been reported. In those crashes, 53 people have died and 303 have suffered injuries.

"Yet earlier this year, NHTSA weakened its AV reporting requirements," according to a press release from Mullin's office.