Automakers and technology developers involved in the testing and deployment of self-driving and advanced driver-assistance features will experience a reduction in the requirement to report detailed public crash information to the federal government. This change comes as a result of a new framework introduced by the US Department of Transportation.
The development is seen as advantageous for self-driving car manufacturers and the broader vehicle technology sector, which have previously argued that federal crash-reporting requirements are too burdensome and repetitive. However, the new rules may reduce the amount of data accessible to those who monitor and analyze autonomous vehicles and driver-assistance technologies—areas intrinsically linked to public safety while often being protected by companies due to their proprietary nature and substantial development investments.
According to the government’s newly released orders, one of the primary sources of publicly accessible data on Level 2 systems incidents will now be restricted. Sam Abuelsamid, an industry writer and vice president of marketing at Michigan-based research firm Telemetry, highlighted that these incidents, which include features such as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised), General Motors’ Super Cruise, and Ford’s Blue Cruise, are increasing in frequency.
Under the new guidelines, companies can withhold certain crash details from public disclosure, including the version of automation involved and narratives surrounding the incidents, citing the protection of “confidential business information.” Developers of self-driving vehicles, like Waymo and Zoox, are exempt from reporting crashes that result in property damage below $1,000, provided these incidents do not involve the self-driving car independently crashing or hitting another vehicle or object. While some minor fender-benders may not be reported federally, companies must still comply with California’s stricter self-driving regulations.
Additionally, manufacturers of advanced driver-assistance features, such as Full Self-Driving, are now obligated to report crashes only if they result in fatalities, hospitalizations, air bag deployments, or collisions with “vulnerable road users” such as pedestrians or cyclists. However, crashes where the involved vehicle merely requires towing do not necessitate reporting.
William Wallace, director of safety advocacy at Consumer Reports, remarked that the changes significantly reduce the scope of reportable incidents—a shift that contradicts his organization’s advocacy for federal regulations aimed at combating “significant incident underreporting” by advanced vehicle technology manufacturers.
Moreover, the new Department of Transportation framework will permit automakers to test self-driving technology in more vehicles that might not adhere to all federal safety standards, using a revised exemption process. This process, already in place for foreign vehicles imported into the US, is now expanded to include domestically produced ones and involves an “iterative review” focusing on the vehicle’s overall safety. This updated process may facilitate the quicker approval of vehicles lacking traditional safety features like steering wheels, brake pedals, and rearview mirrors, which are less relevant when cars are autonomously operated by computers.
