Washington, D.C. —The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is committed to the safe deployment of automated vehicles. NHTSA hosted a public workshop today to get feedback on the Voluntary Safety Self-Assessments discussed in the Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety guidance released last month. As stated in the guidance, entities are encouraged to consider and document their use of industry standards, best practices, company policies, or other methods they have employed to safeguard that their systems will be safe under real-world conditions. These methods are encouraged to be summarized and made available to the public in the form of a Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment.

The morning session kicked off with opening remarks by NHTSA Acting Administrator Heidi King, who stressed the importance of public trust to the safe advancement of Automated Driving System (ADS) technology, and collaboration with stakeholders to move ADSs in the right direction. Presentations from the Global Automakers, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), Waymo, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers immediately followed.

The afternoon session focused on the Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment Template and included an open mic discussion of the challenges and approaches to public disclosure. Speakers included representatives from the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, Consumers Union, Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Lindsey Research, Driver, and others.

The workshop , overall, was a productive, open forum, where manufacturers, suppliers, safety advocates, and other entities shared the types of information that could be made available, and opportunities for making that information public. There were over 100 attendees present, and many more who participated via a LIVE Webcast. A full transcript will be available in the coming weeks.

NHTSA encourages public feedback on the Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment, which can be submitted online at regulations.gov (Docket NHTSA–2017–0086), or sent to NHTSA at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 140, Washington, DC 20590. The telephone number is 202–366–9826. The comment period is open until December 18, 2017.

NHTSA’s next public meeting will be held on November 6, 2017 in Washington, DC at DOT HQ.  Further details about this meeting will soon be available.