Automated vehicles potentially promise transformative benefits in safety, mobility, and other areas. However, the successful development of these vehicles and technologies may pose a range of challenges for policymakers to confront. DOT is the lead federal agency for vehicle safety and road infrastructure.

The world is facing an unprecedented emergence of automation technologies. In the transportation sector, where 9 out of 10 serious roadway crashes occur due to human behavior, automated vehicle technologies possess the potential to save thousands of lives, as well as reduce congestion, enhance mobility, and improve productivity. The Federal Government wants to ensure it does not impede progress with unnecessary or unintended barriers to innovation. Safety remains the number one priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and is the specific focus of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This document expands the scope of autonomous driving to provide a framework and multimodal approach to the safe integration of AVs into the Nation’s broader surface transportation system.

With self-driving cars and buses on the horizon, a bipartisan pair of lawmakers wants more communities to address their transportation needs using new technology, data and other smart solutions. Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) unveiled legislation on Thursday designed to boost innovative, first-of-its-kind transportation systems around the country.

The objective of this project is to develop a consensus Connected Road Classification System (CRCS) that will be useful to state and local departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations that are planning or implementing CV- and HAV-compatible infrastructure. Vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other private-sector interests (e.g., other HAV developers, transportation network companies, digital map providers, cellular telecommunications companies) must be involved in the development to ensure that the system is relevant to their development plans

General Motors Co. is testing a safety feature in Macomb County to warn drivers that traffic signals are about to turn red. And in what is believed to be a first “connected” construction zone in the nation, test cars on a section of Interstate 75 in Oakland County can read high-tech roadside bar codes which communicate what lanes are closed up ahead. Even the reflective strips on workers’ safety vests contain information that identifies them as people instead of traffic barrels.