May/June 2020

NSPE Today
DOT Guide on AVs Misses Key Ingredient: PEs

NSPE continues to sound the alarm on how the lack of regulation for autonomous vehicles can put the public at risk.

In public comments submitted to the Department of Transportation on April 2, NSPE called on the agency to prioritize public safety and use the subject-matter expertise of professional engineers in the rulemaking process. The DOT’s release of its latest guidelines on automated vehicles, however, shows the agency continues to prioritize innovation over regulation.

Although the guidelines’ first principle is “prioritize safety,” the Society’s position is clear: “NSPE finds that DOT is not doing enough.”

(Read NSPE’s complete comments.)

To reduce the risk to the public, NSPE recommends PE involvement in the development and deployment of AVs.

Specifically, NSPE calls for the DOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require autonomous vehicle developers to submit safety self-assessment reports. The same recommendation was made by the National Transportation Safety Board after its investigation of an accident in Tempe, Arizona, in which an automated test vehicle killed a pedestrian. The NTSB’s investigation focused on the inadequate safety culture of the Uber Advanced Technologies Group, which installed a proprietary developmental automated driving system in the test vehicle, and the need for safety risk management requirements for testing automated vehicles on public roads.

Additionally, NSPE recommends PE involvement in a third-party verification process of safety assessments, which AV developers should be required to submit.

To protect the public and build greater confidence in AV technology, NSPE argues that a regulatory framework must be created—with input from licensed professional engineers—to provide oversight of manufacturers and developers.

The DOT should also revisit its position on voluntary consensus standards. Reliance on voluntary consensus standards alone is not the answer because they “create an opening for industry to self-regulate and self-certify the technology they are developing.”

DOT’s guidelines, “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0,” are the agency’s latest effort to give high-level guidance to federal agencies, innovators, and other stakeholders on the federal government’s stance on AVs.