Advocates Call On Congress to Put the Brakes On Reckless Autonomous Vehicle Rollouts

“It’s important to emphasize that future benefits of AVs remain speculative and have yet to be proven to us in any tangible form,” said Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Michael Brooks at a press conference Tuesday.

By John Besche
July 26, 2023

In advance of today’s congressional legislative hearing on robocar policy, safety advocates, academics, law enforcement, and elected officials are making the case that without proper oversight, autonomous vehicles have the potential to exacerbate the traffic violence their manufacturers claim they’ll solve, while diverting resources away from proven solutions like road design.

Earlier this month, a coalition of twenty-two organizations signed onto a group letter opposing any potential legislation that would exempt AVs from federal safety regulations and allow their manufacturers to hide safety data from the public. Advocates pointed to a series of fatal AV failures in recent years, arguing that public roads shouldn’t serve as test tracks for private technology still decades away from realizing its full potential.

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