Automation a frequent topic at FMCSA ART Forum

March 10, 2021

Mark Schremmer

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The slow shift toward automation was a frequent topic discussed during the FMCSA’s Office of Analysis, Research and Technology Forum on Wednesday, March 10.

In response to a question about the trucking industry’s push toward developing the technology, FMCSA acting Administrator Meera Joshi declined to provide a timeline but said the agency is preparing for the change.

“We can argue about scope, and we can argue about timeline, but what we can’t argue about is that this is a reality,” Joshi said during the online forum. “There will be a major shift in workforce, and it is a commitment from the president, the secretary and me to make sure we have our hands around to best prepare the workforce for this change regardless of the timetable and the size.”

Tom Keane, FMCSA associate administrator of the Office of Research and Registration, said there are potential safety benefits that could come from automation.

“The application of automation and driver assistance technologies to commercial motor vehicles is an area where our goals of safety and innovation converge directly,” Keane said. “And it’s something we’re very focused on at FMCSA. Beyond the lives saved and injuries prevented, reductions in crashes can also lower transportation costs and improve efficiency. Some automated CMV driving systems also offer ways to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.”

Joshi said the move toward automation is still down the road but acknowledged the concern from drivers.

“This is a real topic, and its timeline differs depending on what perspective you’re looking at,” she said. “If it’s your livelihood that seems like it is being threatened, it is an immediate problem. If it is someone in development who feels like things aren’t moving fast enough and the infrastructure isn’t built, then it seems further out. But it is a challenge that needs to be addressed … The truth is that there is a huge workforce that today travels all across the nation and performs all of the duties of a professional driver, and it’s been a mainstay of American employment for quite a long time. Nothing will happen overnight, but automated vehicles will certainly make inroads into that workforce.”

OOIDA President Todd Spencer noted that the technology still has a long way to go.

“Automation of many things is inevitable, trucking included,” Spencer said. “But the move will be gradual and where it makes sense without compromising safety – or it should be anyway. We will need to take care not to buy into the irrational exuberance that technological possibilities might suggest. It takes dedicated and determined men and women to make our supply chain function, and those folks will be needed for a long time.”

In a letter to the Biden administration earlier this year, OOIDA said it remained concerned about the safety performance of autonomous vehicles, their real-world feasibility, and how they would affect the trucking workforce.

“Greater federal oversight of autonomous vehicle testing and deployment on public roads is critical to ensuring safety, and greater transparency from manufacturers involving the safety performance of their vehicles must be required to ensure the public’s trust in new technologies. This will help educate consumers, the industry, and regulators about the actual reliability of autonomous technology.”

Real-world concerns about automation

In March 2020, OOIDA Board Member Linda Allen was featured in a segment about autonomous vehicles on the longstanding CBS news show “60 Minutes.”

Allen used the time to voice some of the concerns that drivers share about a possible world with driverless trucks.

“There are too many things that can go wrong,” Allen said during the segment. “I was on I-75 last month. There was a bad accident, and the state trooper came out and started hand-signaling vehicles, ‘You go here. You go there.’ How’s an autonomous truck going to recognize what an officer wants you to do? How’s that going to work?”

The four-hour ART Forum also discussed such topics as enforcement during the pandemic, crash stats, and recent findings from the American Transportation Research Institute. LL