US House Lawmaker Calls for Federal Law on Self-Driving Vehicles

Rep. Erin Houchin, a Republican from Indiana, has called for action on draft legislation before Congress aimed at regulating the rapidly growing self-driving car industry. The bill, dubbed the SELF DRIVE Act, seeks to place self-driving vehicles under the authority of the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

The bill also seeks to increase the safety requirements that these vehicles must adhere to, while also requiring the sharing of more data on crashes involving self-driving cars.

Houchin expressed her views during an event that was hosted in Washington, D.C., by the media firm Axios. This event coincided with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix qualifying rounds that saw race cars zooming through the U.S. capital.

The gathering hosted by Axios was part of broader efforts aimed at galvanizing the auto industry and lawmakers to work together to actualize a framework through which self-driving vehicles can be governed at a national level rather than leaving this important function to states.

In her remarks, Houchin mentioned that it was important for the federal government to act because self-driving vehicles are linked to interstate commerce given that road networks cross state borders. A federal law is therefore necessary so that these vehicles can operate nationally under a uniform law, she added.

The House of Representatives lawmaker explained that congestion on the calendar of Congress had delayed action on this bill. She said Congress had little time to do a lot before the December expiry date of the current Congress. She said the willingness to act existed but time was the limiting factor delaying progress on this issue.

Kinsey Fabrizio, the Consumer Technology Association’s CEO, welcomed the call made by Houchin to have a federal framework in place to regulate self-driving vehicles. She added that self-driving vehicles were at an inflection point in the country and the calls for a national regulatory framework were timely.

Fabrizio said that without a federal framework, companies operating self-driving cars would have to comply with a different law in each of the 50 states in the country and that would be challenging, costly and confusing.

On the matter of ramping up domestic vehicle manufacturing, Fabrizio indicated that automation and robotics would be defining factors in the future of manufacturing. She urged U.S. companies in the auto industry to cultivate relationships with entities in friendly nations so that the reliability of what they manufacture is increased.

For conglomerates like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) with interests in the self-driving car industry, a federal law governing the industry would bring clarity to the segment and support the rollout of the technology.

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