The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced an initiative to “safely unleash American innovation” to, among other things, remove brake pedals from autonomous vehicles, which it says are not needed.
In particular, the department is want to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 135, “Light Vehicle Brake Systems.” Standard No. 135 was initially published in 1995, and passenger cars have changed much since then. This proposed adjustment would not modify any of the stopping distance requirements covered by No. 135, would only require pedals in cars operated by autonomous-driving systems, and would evaluate braking system capability in an “alternative” manner.
At this early stage of robotaxi development, not every company’s solution is created equal or alike. For example, Waymo does not use human safety monitors, while Tesla still does. The latter may change soon—the company is Testing CyberCab without human input in Austin — and such rule changes are consistent with its intended trajectory.
If companies don’t find it necessary to have a monitor in the car just in case, removing the brake pedal probably wouldn’t make much sense. The potential problem here is that NHTSA is erecting barriers it calls “pointless,” without using this opportunity to get ahead of inevitable problems.
For example, a footnote on page 9 states that, “NHTSA is not taking a position at this time regarding how a passenger should be able to direct an ADS-operated vehicle to stop, or how an ADS should respond to such a direction. NHTSA will continue to consider this issue as it addresses ADS performance.” If you’re going to go through the trouble of removing the brake pedal, now seems like a very good time to develop some kind of failsafe or kill-switch protocol for passengers in the Rogue AV. I believe the regulators intend to cross that bridge when they reach it, to put it in the mildest terms imaginable.
there are some good ideas over here. One measure that actually supports NHTSA’s claim that it’s trying to modernize things with “no negative impact on vehicle safety” is its stated position on “telltales,” or, in this case, brake indicators visible to occupants. “Some stakeholders have indicated that telltales are only relevant to the driver, and the information only needs to be transmitted to ADS for vehicles not operated by a human driver. NHTSA tentatively disagrees with this approach,” the outline reads.
The proposal mentions other, less burdensome modernizations, such as no need for windshield wiper controls in autonomous vehicles. Ultimately, all of this makes it easier for robotaxi hopefuls to get their product on the road, which is great if you run a robotaxi hopeful. For those of us who don’t, there are benefits immediately less obvious.
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