House Committee on Energy and Commerce meets to discuss automotive safety

The Committee on Energy and Commerce, a legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, held a hearing on January 13 to discuss the importance of motor vehicle safety as it pertains to the rise of autonomous vehicles (AV) and ADAS in the automotive sphere, as well as the Repair Act's impact on innovation and intellectual property in the automotive industry. 

Witnesses included Bill Hanvey, President and CEO of the Auto Care Association; Hilary Cain, Senior Vice President of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation; Finch Fulton, Government Affairs Advisor, K&L Gates; and Michael Brooks, Executive Director of the Center for Auto Safety. 

The committee covered a broad range of topics regarding vehicle and driver safety, with a list of questions posed from representatives and the witnesses present. 

Guidelines for safety

In her written testimony, Cain spoke to some of the concerns posed by representatives on the subcommittee. She addressed the importance of Congress to "focus on reforms that enable NHTSA to be more effective, more transparent, and more forward-looking."

Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA) co-led a bill, the ADAS Functionality and Integrity Act, that proposes NHTSA be directed to develop guidelines grounded in testing that ensure repair shops will have access to the information they need to verify that ADAS systems are in compliance.

"There's no doubt that ADAS technologies are making vehicles safer," said Cain, "And there's also no doubt that we need to make sure that those systems continue to be properly calibrated so they continue to work."

Cain shared that the Alliance for Automotive Innovation had sent out a letter to NHTSA urging them to create a kind of forum including automakers, modifiers, and other relevant parties to discuss what a path forward might look like. 

"The ADAS Functionality and Integrity Act requires initiaitive to engage with stakeholders, including independent automotive aftermarket," Representative Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) began in her question addressed to Hanvey, President and CEO of the Auto Care Association. "What types of data and real world experience can your members contribute to help NHTSA develop effective, practical guidelines?"

"We provide an annual fact book that is a comprehensive view of the automotive aftermarket that they might find useful," explained Hanvey. "We're very willing and able to work with NHTSA on this important piece of legislation."

Repair Act

Representative Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ) expressed his concern for the Repair Act's impact on innovation and intellectual property. 

"The Repair Act does two things at the same time," explained Cain. "The first, it makes sure that independent repairers have access to the data, information, and tools that they need to repair vehicles. That's something that automakers are aligned in wanting to achieve. The second thing that it does is it makes data and information available to aftermarket parts manufacturers so that they can manufacture parts that compete with the parts that the automakers make. That's where intellectual property is something we need to be thinking about.

"Right now, if an aftermarket parts manufacturer wants to make a part that competes with an OEM part, they have two options. One is to license the intellectual property from the automaker and make an identical part. The second is to invest in their own research and development to develop a compatible part that differs enough from the automaker's part so as not to infringe on its intellectual property. We think that construct should be preserved, and we're not confident that it is in the Repair Act."

Despite the intellectual property protections in the bill, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation fears they fall short of truly protecting intellectual property. 

Impact on automotive jobs

Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) of Michigan expressed concern for the impact on American automotive industry jobs due to the speed at which this legislation is moving. 

"We need a comprehensive federal AV framework that prioritizes safety, protects consumer privacy, supports innovation, strengthens domestic manufacturing, and ensures American workers are a part of the future of this industry," said Dingell. "Ms. Cain, if we fail to safely innovate, do we risk losing our domestic auto industry and American jobs?"

"Yes, I believe we do," answered Cain. 

Representative Harshbarger, in conversation about her bill the Driver Act, expressed concerns to Hanvey on the gatekeeping of knowledge that has the potential to occur within the industry regarding these new technologies, and how that potential might pose challenges in the future.   

"It certainly does [pose a threat]. Right now the restrictions are on the data, but there's two overriding factors for that. Number one, for the OEMs to drive consumers back to the dealerships for repair. Number two, to monetize the data off the vehicles like Stellantis who have business units dedicated to selling that data. And with respect to whether blocking data is a future challenge, that's absolutely correct. The Repair Act protects consumers and their rights to afford accessible repair, and the Driver Act would extend those privileges and protections so we're very supportive of that."

As ADAS technologies and autonomy in cars become more commonplace, the need for safety regulations and shared knowledge bases is integral to the performance and safety of these vehicles as well as the technicians that are tasked with working on them.