US agency orders autonomous vehicle manufacturers to report accidents Automotive news

The Directive The National Road Traffic Safety Administration has sent special investigation teams in June 2016 to 31 accidents related to partially automated driver assistance systems.

The U.S. government’s highway safety agency has ordered car manufacturers to report accidents involving systems that assist fully autonomous or partially automated drivers.

The move by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday is that the agency is taking a tougher stance than in the past on automated vehicle safety. The intention has been to disregard regulations on new technology for fear of hindering the adoption of life-saving systems.

In the order, vehicle and equipment manufacturers and companies that use vehicles must report accidents or driver assistance systems on public roads with fully autonomous vehicles before or when the accident occurred.

“By ordering to report accidents, the agency will have access to critical data that will help quickly identify safety issues that may arise in these automated systems,” said Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s acting administrator.

The agency says it will look for possible safety errors, and that information could lead to the sending of an accident investigation team or the opening of a fault investigation.

The request, after the NHTSA sent a special investigation team to 31 accidents with partial automatic driver assistance systems, will come in June 2016. These systems can keep the vehicle centered in its lane and a safe distance from the vehicles in front. Of those accidents, 25 had Tesla’s Autopilot system, and 10 were killed in accidents, according to data released by the agency.

Tesla and other manufacturers have warned that drivers using the system must be prepared to intervene at all times. The Teslas that use the system have failed because half-trucks, emergency vehicles and road barriers have not stopped in front.

The agency is also investigating the fatal crashes associated with two partially automated systems, the Lexus RX 450h, Volvo XC-90 and Cadillac CT6. In addition, the team investigated accidents involving a Navya Arma low-speed automatic shuttle and another Volvo XC90 operated by Uber, in which a pedestrian was killed in Arizona.

The National Transportation Safety Commission (NTSB), which has investigated several Tesla accidents, has recommended that the NHTSA and Tesla limit the use of Autopilot to areas where it can operate safely. The NTSB has recommended that the NHTSA have a better Tesla system to ensure drivers pay attention. The NHTSA has not taken any recommendations.

Executive Director of the Center for Nonprofit Auto Safety Jason Levine, the defense team, said reporting accidents was the first step for NHTSA. The center has been asking the agency to oversee automated vehicles for several years.

“Collecting crash data and hopefully preventing crash data can serve several purposes in addition to enforcing existing laws, ensuring consumer safety, paving the way for sensible regulations to encourage the spread of safe advanced vehicles. Technology,” Levin said in an email.

Companies must report accidents that have been fully autonomous or partially automated vehicles and know them one day if they have been hospitalized for injury, death, airbag deployment, pedestrians or cyclists, or if they are serious enough to tow the vehicle. .

Vehicles equipped with systems must be reported on a monthly basis and other accidents that may result in accidents or property damage. The requirement does not apply to consumers who own vehicles or car dealerships.

The NHTSA said in a statement that the data could show that there are common patterns in accidents caused by systems.