OOIDA offers alternative view on automated vehicles at TRB conference

While most of the officials at the 2019 Transportation Research Board conference in Washington, D.C., were busy hyping the latest in automated technology, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association focused on the dangers and negative consequences that could result from fully autonomous vehicles.

Andrew King, research analyst for the OOIDA Foundation, delivered a more sobering outlook on the future of the technology when he offered his presentation to the Truck and Bus Safety committee. The committee was part of the five-day Transportation Research Board conference in January.

“We’re always fighting to get the facts out there, because everyone else in the room are vendors or academics,” King said. “They all have something to gain by developing these technologies.”

The OOIDA Foundation has worked extensively on researching and analyzing the potential future of automation in trucking, and King passed on much of that research to the Truck and Bus Safety committee.

There are five levels of automated vehicles, ranging from driver assistance, where the technology aids the driver in certain situations, to full automation, where a human driver is not part of the equation.

Considerable improvements need to be made before the technology could safely reach level 5 automation.

According to the OOIDA Foundation, at least six crashes involving automated vehicles occurred between 2016 and 2018, and most of the automated vehicles involved were level 2.

“Notwithstanding the performance concerns, DOT states that while ‘reasonable risks’ must be addressed, delaying or unduly hampering automated vehicle testing until all specific risks have been identified and eliminated means delaying the realization of global reductions in risk,” the OOIDA Foundation wrote in its white papers on automation released in December. “What does the DOT consider a reasonable risk? It is confusing as to how the need for more specific data on risk will somehow unduly delay the ‘realization of global reductions in risk.’ Moreover, why is DOT concerned with global reductions of risk at all?”

If the gap in technology is closed and level 5 automation is eventually reached, the OOIDA Foundation says there are even more questions.

“According to FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System, the most common out-of-service violations are flat tires, defective brakes, inoperative turn signals, and inoperable required lamps,” the OOIDA Foundation wrote. “What will the nonhuman, fully autonomous truck do in these instances? These are just a few of the duties and regulations that drivers must obey at the federal, state and local level, yet drivers receive violations for not following them. Will FMCSA hold automated vehicles to the same standards?”

FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez addressed automation during the agency’s presentation at the conference.

“Administrator Martinez said that he does expect fully autonomous level 5 vehicles in the future,” King said. “But he also said that drivers don’t have to worry about losing their jobs. Well, that doesn’t make any sense.”

FMCSA announced in October that it will initiate an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to address automated vehicles and to identify regulatory gaps. The advance notice of proposed rulemaking is expected to be released in “early 2019.”

“I think the advance notice of proposed rulemaking will give us a picture of what FMCSA is looking at as far as amending or changing regulations for automated vehicles,” said Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs. LL