Guidelines for the Safe Deployment and Operation of Automated Vehicle Safety Technologies |
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Nathaniel Beuse
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
18 March 2016
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14934-14936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06143]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2016-0036]
Guidelines for the Safe Deployment and Operation of Automated
Vehicle Safety Technologies
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Announcement of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA is announcing a public meeting to seek input on planned
guidelines for the safe deployment and operation of automated vehicles.
The intent of the operational guidance is to encourage innovative and
safe deployment of automated vehicle technologies.
At this meeting, NHTSA is seeking public input on those aspects of
automated vehicle (AV) systems that would benefit from operational
guidelines. For example, of high importance to the Agency is
information on the roadway scenarios and operational environments
highly automated vehicles will need to address and the associated
design and evaluation processes and methods needed to ensure that AV
systems can detect and appropriately react to these scenarios such that
a high level of safety is assured when these systems are deployed on US
roadways.
Also of interest would be input on aspects of automated vehicle
technology that may not be suitable or ready for guidelines. For these
areas, information would be useful on alternative approaches to assure
safety.
DATES: NHTSA will hold the public meeting on April 8, 2016, in
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Washington, DC. The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. and continue until
4:00 p.m., local time. Check-in (through security) will begin at 8 a.m.
(Note: A second public meeting will be held on the West Coast
(California), and details for that meeting will be announced in a
separate Federal Register (FR) Notice.)
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor Atrium, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. This facility is accessible to
individuals with disabilities. The meeting will also be webcast live,
and a link to the actual webcast will be available through http://www.nhtsa.gov/Research/Crash+Avoidance/Automated+Vehicles.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions about the public
meeting, please contact us at av_info_nhtsa@dot.gov.
Registration is necessary for all attendees. Attendees should
register at http://goo.gl/forms/l8z3HVM6hw by April 1, 2016. Please
provide name and affiliation, indicate if you wish to offer technical
remarks, and please indicate whether you require accommodations such as
a sign language interpreter. Space is limited, so advanced registration
is highly encouraged.
Although attendees will be given the opportunity to offer technical
remarks, there will not be time for attendees to make audio-visual
presentations during the meeting. Note: We may not be able to
accommodate all attendees who wish to make oral remarks. Should it be
necessary to cancel the meeting due to inclement weather or other
emergency, NHTSA will take all available measures to notify registered
participants.
NHTSA will conduct the public meeting informally, and technical
rules of evidence will not apply. We will arrange for a written
transcript of the meeting and keep the official record open for 30 days
after the meeting to allow submission of supplemental information. You
may make arrangements for copies of the transcripts directly with the
court reporter, and the transcript will also be posted in the docket
when it becomes available.
Written Comments: Written statements and supporting information
submitted during the comment period will be considered with the same
weight as oral comments and supporting information presented at the
public meeting. Please submit all written comments no later than May 9,
2016, by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West
Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001, between
9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Fax: 202-366-1767.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number. Note that all comments received will be posted without
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided. Please see the Privacy Act discussion below.
Docket: For access to the docket go to http://www.regulations.gov
at any time or to 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays. Telephone: 202-366-
9826.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78), or you may visit
http://www.regulations.gov/privacy.html.
Confidential Business Information: If you wish to submit any
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit three
copies of your complete submission, including the information you claim
to be confidential business information to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at
the address given under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. In addition,
you should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the claimed
confidential business information, to Docket Management at the address
given above. When you send a comment containing information claimed to
be confidential business information, you should submit a cover letter
setting forth the information specified in our confidential business
information regulation (49 CFR part 512).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
DOT recently announced a series of actions to remove potential
roadblocks to the integration of innovative automotive technology. As
part of this effort, several milestones were announced for 2016,
including development of guidance on the safe deployment and operation
of automated vehicles.
Draft Agenda
08:00-09:00--Arrival/Check-In
09:00-12:00--Morning Public Meeting Session
12:00-13:00--Lunch Break
13:00-16:00--Afternoon Public Meeting Session
16:00-Adjourn
Public Meeting Topics
NHTSA is seeking input on the following topics during the morning
and afternoon sessions of the meeting.
1. Evaluation and testing of scenarios the AV system should detect
and correctly operate in: Within the AV system's operating envelope,
consider how to identify the scenarios that could be encountered by the
AV system (e.g., behavioral competencies/normal driving, pre-crash
scenarios, etc.) and what design and evaluation (testing) processes and
methods are needed to ensure that the vehicle can detect and
appropriately react to these scenarios. Consider whether third party
testing is appropriate for validating test results.
2. Detection and communication of operational boundaries: If there
are limitations on where AV technology will operate--what methods
should the AV technology use to sense when it is reaching the
operational domain limit and how should that be communicated to the
driver?
3. Environmental operation and sensing: Consider what environmental
conditions AV systems will likely operate in. For environmental
conditions in which AV systems are not designed to operate, discuss
methods used to detect these conditions.
4. Driver transitioning to/from AV operating mode: For AV systems
that rely on transferring vehicle operation back to the driver, discuss
approaches to (a) ensuring safe transitioning back to a fully capable
non-impaired driver (e.g., geo-fencing, adverse weather) and (b) how
non optimal driver behavior will be addressed by the AV system (e.g.,
decision errors, erratic behavior, driver impairment.)
5. Data: Consider data recording capabilities of system(s)
necessary to monitor the correct operation of the AV system, and what
are appropriate triggers (crash, near crash, etc.) to determine system
operational status or possible malfunction of the system. Also consider
how recorded data could be
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accessed and by whom. During the testing phase, consider what data
should be made public for further analysis and understanding.
6. Crash avoidance capability: Consider the capabilities of AV
systems with respect to detecting roadway hazards (other vehicles,
pedestrians, animals, etc.) such that common crash scenarios involving
these hazards (control loss, crossing paths head-on, etc.) can be
detected and either avoided or mitigated.
7. Electronics systems safety: Consider methods and potential
documentation that could be produced with respect to functional safety
and cybersecurity.
8. Non-passenger AVs: Consider differences between AVs designed for
delivery of goods and products that are not intended to have a human
operator or potentially even human passengers.
9. Aspects of AV technology that may not be suitable or ready for
guidelines. For these areas, information would be useful on alternative
approaches to assure safety.
10. Identification of industry voluntary standards, best practices,
etc., related to automated vehicle operation.
11. Information AV's may need to communicate to pedestrians and
other vehicles (manual or automated) just as a driver would. Consider
situations such as pedestrians crossing a travel lane in a parking lot
and how this communication should be accomplished.
12. Other topics needed for operational guidance: Other topics that
would be beneficial to address in an operational guidance document to
facilitate innovation and safe deployment of these systems on public
roadways.
Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated by 49 CFR
1.95.
Nathaniel Beuse,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2016-06143 Filed 3-17-16; 8:45 am]
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