Guidelines for the Safe Deployment and Operation of Automated Vehicle Safety Technologies |
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Nathaniel Beuse
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
15 April 2016
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 73 (Friday, April 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22365-22367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-08708]
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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 second public meeting to seek input on
planned guidelines for the safe deployment and operation of automated
vehicles. NHTSA held its first public meeting on this topic on April 8,
2016, in Washington, DC. The intent of the operational guidelines 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 to the Agency is 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 27, 2016, in
Stanford, CA. The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. and continue until
4:00 p.m., local time. Check-in will begin at 8 a.m.
Location: The meeting will be held at the CARS Facility at Stanford
University, 473 Oak Rd, Stanford, CA 94305. 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
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http://goo.gl/forms/T67E0B20Ie by April 22, 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 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 transcript 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, the Department announced several milestones for
2016, including development of guidance on the safe deployment and
operation of automated vehicles.
Draft Agenda (In Local Time)
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 (e.g., decision errors, erratic behavior,
driver impairment) will be addressed by the AV system.
5. AV for persons with disabilities: Consider the unique needs of
people with different types of disabilities in the design, development,
and policy setting for self-driving cars and related automation.
6. 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 accessed and by whom. During the testing
phase, consider what data should be made public for further analysis
and understanding.
7. 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.
8. Electronics systems safety: Consider methods and potential
documentation that could be produced with respect to functional safety
and cybersecurity.
9. Non-passenger AVs: Consider differences between AVs designed for
delivery of goods and products that are
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not intended to have a human operator or potentially even human
passengers.
10. 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.
11. Identification of industry voluntary standards, best practices,
etc., related to automated vehicle operation.
12. Information AVs 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.
13. Conditions in which AVs may need to be able to identify and
communicate to a central location or authority that a problem has
occurred. Consider situations where passengers may be delivered to
their destination but a medical problem or potential incapacitation
enroute may potentially suggest considerations for vehicle capabilities
that could handle such cases.
14. Operation of an AV with open safety recall: Consider if
automated vehicles should be allowed to operate in automated mode in
cases when there is an open safety recall on that vehicle or if
automated functions should be restrained until recall repairs are
completed (perhaps reversion to manual driving when possible). Consider
if AVs with open recalls should be allowed to operate on public roads
at all, and if so, under what conditions.
15. 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. 2016-08708 Filed 4-14-16; 8:45 am]
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