Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative |
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Chou-Lin Chen
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
2 July 2020
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 128 (Thursday, July 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39975-39977]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14227]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. DOT-NHTSA-2020-0070]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing
(AV TEST) Initiative
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for approval of a
new information collection.
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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
invites public comments about our intention to request approval from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new information
collection. Before a Federal agency can collect certain information
from the public, it must receive approval from OMB. Under procedures
established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, before seeking OMB
approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed
collections of information. This document describes a collection of
information for NHTSA's planned Automated Vehicle Transparency and
Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative for which NHTSA
intends to seek OMB approval. The AV TEST Initiative involves the
voluntary collection of information from entities testing vehicles
equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) and from States and local
authorities involved in the regulation of ADS testing. The purpose of
this collection is to provide information to the public about ADS
testing operations in the U.S. and applicable State and local laws,
regulations, and guidelines.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 31, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. DOT-
NHTSA-2020-0070 through any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays.
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 between
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202)
366-9322 before coming.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name
and docket number for this proposed collection of information. 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 heading below.
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 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the
street address listed above. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 366-9322 before coming. Follow the online
instructions for accessing the dockets via internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Michael Frenchik, Office of Data
Acquisition, Safety Systems Management Division (NSA-0130), Room W53-
303, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Mr. Frenchik's
telephone number is (202) 366-0641.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
before an agency submits a proposed collection of information to OMB
for approval, it must first publish a document in the Federal Register
providing a 60-day comment period and otherwise consult with members of
the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of
information. The OMB has promulgated regulations describing what must
be included in
[[Page 39976]]
such a document. Under OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency
must ask for public comment on the following: (i) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (ii) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (iii) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
(iv) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA
asks for public comments on the following proposed collection of
information:
Title: Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe
Testing (``AV TEST'') Initiative.
OMB Control Number: New.
Type of Request: Request for approval of a new information
collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Affected Public: There are two information collection components to
this request. The first affects entities engaged in testing of ADS
vehicles, including original manufacturers of ADS vehicles and ADS
vehicle equipment, and operators of ADS vehicles. The second affects
local authorities regulating testing of ADS vehicles within their
jurisdictions, including States, cities, counties, and other
municipalities.
Request Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) was established by Congress to save lives, prevent injuries,
and reduce economic costs due to motor vehicle crashes through
education, research, safety standards, and enforcement activity. DOT
and NHTSA are fully committed to reaching an era of crash-free roadways
through the deployment of innovative lifesaving technologies. The
prevalence of automotive crashes in the United States underscores the
urgency to develop and deploy lifesaving technologies that can
dramatically decrease the number of fatalities and injuries on our
Nation's roadways. NHTSA believes that Automated Driving System (ADS)
technology, including technology contemplating no human driver at all,
has the potential to significantly improve roadway safety in the United
States. This technology remains substantially in development phases
with companies across the United States performing varying levels of
development, research, and testing relating to the performance of
various aspects of ADS vehicle technologies. While much of these
development operations occur in private facilities and closed-course
test tracks, many stakeholders have progressed to conducting ADS
vehicle testing on public roads or in public demonstrations. Moreover,
to regulate such operations in their jurisdictions, many local
authorities, such as States and cities, have passed laws governing ADS
vehicle testing on public roads. These statutes, regulations, and
ordinances vary, ranging from operational requirements to mandating the
submission of periodic reports detailing ADS vehicle operation.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: The AV TEST Initiative seeks to enhance public education
and engagement with public ADS vehicle testing by coalescing
information regarding respondents' various testing operations or
requirements into a centralized resource. This information collections
seeks voluntarily-provided information from entities performing ADS
testing about their operations and information from local authorities
about requirements or recommendations for such operations. NHTSA will
maintain a digital platform on its website that collects information
from respondents and makes the information about ADS operations and
applicable State and local requirements and recommendations available
to members of the public.
The program will support two main objectives. The first objective
is to provide the public with access to geographic visualizations of
testing at the national, State, and local levels. This information will
be displayed on a graphic of the United States, with projects overlaid
on the geographic areas in which the testing project is taking place.
By clicking on a testing location, members of the public will be able
see additional information about the operation and the ADS operator.
Additional information may include basic information about the ADS
operator, a brief statement about the entity, specific details of the
testing activity, high-level (non-confidential) descriptions of the
vehicles and technology, photos of the test vehicles, the dates on
which testing occurs, frequency of vehicle operations, the number of
vehicles participating in the project, the specific streets or areas
comprising the testing routes, information about safety drivers and
their training, information about engagement with the community and/or
local government, weblinks to the company's websites with brief
introductory statements, and a link to the company's Voluntary Safety
Self-Assessment (VSSA).\1\
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\1\ Voluntary Self-Assessments are described in Automated
Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety, available at https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf. VSSAs are covered by the PRA Clearance
with OMB Control Number 2127-0723.
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The second objective is to provide members of the public with
information collected from States and local authorities that regulate
ADS operations. State and local authorities will be asked to provide
weblinks for specific ADS-related topics, such as statutes,
regulations, or guidelines for ADS operations, privacy-related issues,
emergency response policies and training, or other activities that
cultivate ADS testing. The implementation of this program will provide
a central resource for the aforementioned information concerning ADS
testing across the United States.
Estimated Number of Respondents: NHTSA anticipates that the
Initiative will include up to 60 State or local government respondents
and 40 ADS developer, ADS vehicle manufacturer, or ADS operator
respondents per year.
Frequency: Participation is completely voluntary and each
participant will choose its respective degree of involvement and the
frequency of its submissions. Therefore, the frequency of a
participant's response may vary due to a variety of factors, such as
the degree of the entity's participation in the initiative or the
frequency with which each entity modifies its ADS testing operations
or, in the case of local authorities, amends its regulations governing
such operations.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: NHTSA estimates that the
annual burden of participation will be approximately 48 hours for
private industry respondents that include ADS operators, developers, or
vehicle manufacturers. This total number of hours represents
approximately four hours per month to perform data entry for testing
projects (4 hours x 12 months = 48). Therefore, for the estimated 40
ADS operator participants, the total burden is estimated to be 1,920
hours per year (40 respondents x 48 hours).
[[Page 39977]]
NHTSA estimates that the annual burden of participation will be
approximately 10 hours for State or local authorities because the
amount of information requested is more limited and also less likely to
require frequent updating. Therefore, for the estimated 60 State or
local authority participants, the total burden is estimated to be 600
hours per year.
The total annual burden for the entire information collection
request is estimated to 2,520 hours (1,920 hours + 600 hours).
The labor cost associated with this collection of information is
derived by (1) applying the appropriate average hourly labor rate
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2) dividing by either
0.701 \2\ (70.1%), for private industry workers, or 0.623 (62.3%), for
state and local government workers, to obtain the total cost of
compensation, and (3) multiplying by the estimated burden hours for
each respondent type.
Labor costs associated with original manufacturers of ADS Vehicles
or ADS vehicle equipment and operators of ADS vehicles are estimated to
be $60.96 per hour for ``Project Management Specialists,'' Occupation
Code 13-1198, ($42.73 \3\ per hour / 0.701). The estimated labor cost
per private industry respondent is estimated to be $2,926.08 per year
($60.96 x 48 hours). Therefore, the total annual labor cost for private
industry to participate in the AV TEST Initiative is estimated to be
$117,043.
Labor costs associated with local and regional authorities, such as
States, counties, and cities are estimated to be $60.84 per hour for
``Legal Support Workers,'' Occupation Code 23-2099, ($37.90 \4\ per
hour / 0.623). The labor cost per regional authority respondent is
estimated to be $608.40 per year ($60.84 x 10 hours). Therefore, the
total annual labor cost for regional authorities to participate in the
AV TEST Initiative is estimated to be $36,504 per year.
The total annual labor costs for all respondents, private industry
and regional authorities together, are estimated to be $153,547 per
year. See Table 1 below for a summary of estimated annual burden hours
and estimated labor costs.
Table 1--Summary of Estimated Burden Hours and Estimated Labor Costs
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Annual hours Annual labor Total annual
Respondent type Number of per Labor cost cost per estimated Total annual
respondents respondent per hour respondent burden hours labor costs
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Original Manufacturer of ADS Vehicles or ADS Vehicle 40 48 $60.96 $2,926.08 1,920 $117,043.20
Equipment and Operators of ADS Vehicles................ 117,043
State or Local Authority................................ 60 10 60.84 608.40 600 36,504
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Total All Respondents............................... 100 .............. .............. .............. 5,000 153,547
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Costs: NHTSA estimates that there
will be no costs to respondents other than costs associated with burden
hours.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.
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\2\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (Dec. 2019), available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t01.htm (accessed May 4, 2020).
\3\ See May 2019 National Industry-Specific Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle
Manufacturing, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm#15-0000 (accessed May 4, 2020).
\4\ See May 2019 National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates by ownership, Federal, state, and local government,
available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/999001.htm#23-0000
(accessed May 4, 2020).
Issued on June 26, 2020.
Chou-Lin Chen,
Associate Administrator, National Center for Statistics and Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2020-14227 Filed 7-1-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P