R Street, CEI and TechFreedom ask NHTSA to revise autonomous vehicle guidance

WASHINGTON (Nov. 22, 2016) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's should revise its recently issued safety guidelines for self-driving cars to improve their transparency and clarify that the guidance is voluntary in nature, according to joint public comments (http://www.rstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CEI-et-al-NHTSA-FAVP-guidance-comments.pdf) filed today with the agency by the R Street Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute and TechFreedom.

The following statement about the filing may be attributed to R Street Associate Fellow Ian Adams:

"The NHTSA's guidelines would upend five decades of federal auto-safety policy by embracing a system of pre-market approval. Such a system would require manufacturers to delay deploying technologies as they await regulatory approval from a process that, based on the experience of the Federal Aviation Administration, could take literally years to complete. We strongly recommend that Congress exercise great scrutiny before it considers granting the NHTSA any such authority."

R Street is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization whose mission is to promote free markets and limited, effective government. It has headquarters in Washington, D.C. and five regional offices across the country. Its website is www.rstreet.org (http://RStreet.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2f789%26JDG%3c%3b28.6%2f%3d%26SDG%3c90%3a.&RE=MC&RI=4593608&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=3343&Action=Follow+Link) .