AV 4.0 lacks substantive data, OOIDA says

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s latest autonomous vehicle guidance, AV 4.0, issued earlier this year lacks “substantive data to support its ‘vision,’” the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association stated in submitted comments.

On April 2, OOIDA submitted official comments for the “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies: Automated Vehicles 4.0,” better known as AV 4.0. While AV 2.0 focused on industry and AV 3.0 introduced other modes into the conversation, including commercial vehicles, AV 4.0 is more of a guide explaining which federal departments are addressing which areas of automated vehicles.

In its comments, OOIDA states that AV 4.0 just continues the shortcomings found in AV 3.0. More specifically, “AV 3.0 lacked substantive data to support its ‘vision,’ and prematurely proposed eliminating a human driver from operating an automated CMV,” OOIDA stated.

“AV 4.0 makes no changes regarding those concerns.”

Also found in AV 4.0, is the controversial voluntary safety assessments for manufacturers. Many stakeholders, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, feel the voluntary self-assessments are not enough. OOIDA said they “will not effectively build public trust, acceptance, and confidence in the testing and deployment of AVs.” As of publication, only 19 of about 80 autonomous vehicle manufacturers have submitted a self-assessment.

With truckers likely to be among the first to experience any shortcomings in real-world applications, OOIDA encouraged the U.S. DOT to look deeply into how autonomous technology will affect the industry.

“Clearly, DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must continue learning more about the impacts that AVs will have on the trucking industry,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer stated in comments. “As such, OOIDA is supportive of DOT’s efforts to discover how AVs might impact the CMV workforce.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is conducting research to increase understanding of the human factors of automated vehicles. Furthermore, FHWA research addresses driver readiness, the human-machine interface, adaptation to advanced technologies and communication with others outside the vehicle. LL