$4 Billion and a National Policy for Driverless Tech: DOT’s Foxx
Burney Simpson
Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx laid out ambitious plans for autonomous vehicles, proposing a 10-year, $4 billion investment in the technology, and pledging to release in six months national guidance for the states and for industry on developing the technology.
The $4 billion in spending will be part of President Barack Obama’s proposed 2017 budget and could fund autonomous- and connected-vehicle testing in designated road corridors. It was announced Thursday by Foxx at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
He also said the National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will develop within six months a “consistent national policy” for autonomous vehicles. NHTSA will work with both the states and with industry stakeholders to write the policy.
In November Rep. Bill Lipinski, an Illinois Democrat and member of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, told Driverless Transportation there should be a federal office coordinating autonomous vehicle policy (See “Feds Need Interagency Connected Vehicle Office: Rep. Lipinski”).
The DOT has oversight of the nation’s transportation systems. But the rapid development of driverless technology, much of it by the private sector, has left regulators flatfooted.
Several states are jockeying to be leaders in the sector. The potential payoff is massive as it would include developing, testing, building, and marketing the vehicles. Theoretically driverless technology will replace the ground vehicles that dominated the 20th Century.
California, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and the District of Columbia allow the testing of driverless vehicles on their roads. Last June Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe opened up its roads for further testing of autonomous vehicles under an executive order (See “VaTech Leaves ‘Em Eating Its Dust in the Race to be the Top Driverless Test Track”).
The DOT announcement comes the week Obama gave his final State of the Union Address. Political appointments like Foxx could be gone by the end of this year.
Foxx announced in December a $30 million Smart City challenge that will award money to a mid-size city that writes a transportation-development plan that includes intelligent transportation systems such as automated and connected vehicles. A Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund put another $10 million in the award pot.
The semifinalists will be announced in February, and the winner is to be named in June by Foxx, possibly in Austin at the SXSW festival.
Photo: NCDOTcommunications, 2015.