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Pedestrians and bicyclists are a powerful indicator of the social and economic health and safety of a community. A high level of pedestrian and bicycle activity in a community is often associated with more robust economies and healthier, more socially-cohesive populations, while a lack of pedestrian and bicycle activity on roadways can be an indicator […]
Industry and labor officials told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that fast-developing automated vehicle technologies in heavy trucks and buses can make highways much safer and freight shipping more efficient, but could create major safety gaps if not closely coordinated with communications systems emerging for passenger cars. The hearing comes at a time that […]
Since the Department of Transportation was established in 1966, there have been more than 2.2 million motor vehicle-related fatalities in the United States. In addition, after decades of decline, motor vehicle fatalities spiked by more than 7.2 percent in 2015, the largest single-year increase since 1966. The major factor in 94 percent of all fatal […]
The U.S. Department of Transportation and its National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued new voluntary guidance about developing vehicles using automated driving systems, in what was widely reported to be a more industry-friendly version than guidance last year by the Obama administration. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the latest guidance, dubbed 2.0, “supports further development of this […]
Many of America’s leading companies are exploring one of the most exciting innovations in recent transportation history—automated driving systems (ADS)—commonly referred to as automated or self-driving vehicles. At DOT, we’re excited about the possibility of automated vehicles delivering a future that is safer, freer, and more efficient. That’s why, this week, we released Automated Driving Systems: […]
Last month, a weird, seemingly driverless vehicle was spotted cruising around the Washington, DC area and northern Virginia. My colleague Kif Leswing covered the story and reported that there was actually a driver involved — just wearing a “seat suit.” That’s right, he was disguised as an empty seat. We now know that the whole […]
The head of the 1.4-million member International Brotherhood of Teamsters union is mounting an aggressive effort to convince Congress to reject new rules to speed the deployment of self-driving trucks, warning they could lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce road safety. James P. Hoffa, who has headed the union […]
The General Motors unit developing autonomous vehicles said Monday it has begun rolling out the first “mass producible” self-driving cars that could be available once regulations allow. “This isn’t just a concept design — it has airbags, crumple zones, and comfortable seats,” said Kyle Vogt, who heads Cruise Automation, a technology startup acquired by GM […]
As the endurance race to bring fully automated vehicles to market continues, engineers are increasingly focused on the practical realities of what it will take produce vehicles capable of safely operating without a human driver. While most of the efforts in Silicon Valley seem to be targeted at developing sophisticated artificial intelligence software that can […]
The House passed a major self-driving-vehicle bill Wednesday. But a big unanswered question remains: what to do about commercial trucks. Driverless trucks are seen as one of the most promising — and fraught — elements of the coming autonomous future on U.S. roads. Convoys of robo-trucks guided across the country by a single human driver […]
