The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on January 14 issued a final rule to modernize numerous Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and clarify ambiguities in current occupant protection standards for vehicles equipped with automated driving systems that are designed without traditional manual driver controls.
The rule amends several crashworthiness regulations to clarify safety standards for automated vehicles equipped without manual driver controls. The rule also exempts automated vehicles designed never to carry any human occupants, including human drivers, from crashworthiness standards.
“With more than 90% of serious crashes caused by driver error, it’s vital that we