The Donald Trump administration on Thursday introduced changes to Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations aimed at expediting the development and deployment of autonomous vehicles, granting Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Robotaxi operator Zoox a temporary exemption to deploy its driverless vehicles commercially.
Sean Duffy Touts AV Consortium
In an official statement, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to implement a new set of policy changes to ” accelerate American automated vehicle (AV) innovation.”
The directives include a temporary exemption for Zoox to deploy 2,500 Robotaxis “annually for two years,” subject to an oversight structure.
Zoox currently operates its service in Las Vegas, where the company has completed 500,000 rides. It also recently unveiled its updated Pod-like Robotaxi, saying that its California production facility can produce 100 units of the vehicle per week. The vehicle features a LiDAR-enabled self-driving suite and bidirectional design, which can accommodate four passengers.
NHTSA also touted a new, three-year $5 million consortium called “A2SCEND," which the agency said is the first-ever AV performance standards partnership with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Industry Technologies Consortia. The agency says that the project will help establish a single national standard for AV safety to “eliminate the patchwork regulatory landscape that has stifled innovation for years,” the agency said.
FMVSS Exemptions, Emergency Responder Guidance
The statement also outlined that the NHTSA Administrator would be granted discretion to provide exemptions to AV developers to deploy vehicles manufactured before the exemption date into the autonomous fleet deployed after the exemption has been granted.
Read Also: San Francisco Mayor Calls for Stricter Robotaxi Rules After Waymo Traffic Chaos: Report
NHTSA is also updating Part 555 exemptions, which allow manufacturers to sell a limited number of vehicles that do not comply with certain Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to develop new technology. The agency is also updating its deployment guidance by establishing a Federal Docket that would cover topics like emergency responder interactions, safety management systems, remote assistance, and post-crash behavior.
“By removing unnecessary barriers to innovation, developing industry guidance, and providing strong enforcement oversight while we create performance requirements, NHTSA is taking a balanced approach to AV regulation,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said.
The Effect of the Move
Notably, the move could provide a boost to companies like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), which currently leads the autonomous driving race with Waymo. EV maker Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) would also stand to benefit from the move.
Waymo currently operates its services across multiple cities in the U.S., with plans to expand globally to markets like the U.K. Meanwhile, Tesla offers its driverless Robotaxi service in Miami, Orlando, Houston, Austin, Dallas and more.
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