The Alliance for Transportation Innovation (ATI21.org) released a National Strategic Framework, designed to inform the incoming president and new administration on the critical need to advance self-driving vehicles as a life-saving technology that will dramatically change America’s transportation future.
ATI21.org is a not-for-profit trade organization with the goal of accelerating technological transportation solutions to dramatically reduce traffic crashes that kill more than 30,000 people in the United States annually. That number is on track to approach a staggering 40,000 in 2016.
The National Strategic Framework to Advance Life-Saving Self-Driving Vehicles describes the complex path and offers a roadmap to navigate the political, technological and social barriers that could hinder successful implementation. It specifically identifies eight major issues including changing public perception and redefining and aligning government policies to accommodate self-driving vehicle design and production.
Paul Brubaker, former administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) research arm - the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and chief executive of ATI21.org, said autonomous vehicles will save thousands of lives every year but only if the next president leads the effort.
“Getting self-driving vehicles out of the test beds and onto the roads will be a herculean task and currently, there’s no single group with the influence and authority to make it happen,” he said. “The incoming president has an important opportunity to lead a program that will save lives and build a transportation legacy.”
The National Strategic Framework is an outgrowth of a recent survey conducted by ATI21.org and The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), operators of the Las Vegas-based Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2017). The survey of industry, academic and government leaders asked a series of questions about self-driving vehicle policy and deployment. An overwhelming 93 percent of respondents representing different sectors said they strongly agree or agree that the federal government should develop a national framework and regulate it across the country.
The National Framework will be distributed to both major party candidate campaigns and ultimately, the presidential transition team. Additionally, it will be shared with self-driving stakeholders across the transportation spectrum and beyond.
