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Center for Auto Safety Statement on White House and DOT "AV 4.0" Document
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
CENTER FOR AUTO SAFETY Statement on Department of Transportation and White House National Science and Technology Council’s “AV 4.0” Document, released January 8, 2020:
“AV 4.0 is the perfect encapsulation of the administration’s principles on vehicle safety: say the right words and do the wrong things. Writing the word ‘safety’ 123 times does not make AVs safer any more than writing the word ‘access’ 73 times makes AVs more accessible. In fact, by continuing to allow manufacturers to test whatever technology they want, wherever they want, and promoting industry-written voluntary standards while engaging in a vendetta against existing mandatory government safety standards, DOT is making the long-term public acceptance of AV technology less likely. Today, the administration proved that it can publish a directory of all federal agencies that could impact the safe development and deployment of AV technology, and confirmed that it has no intention of instructing any of them to do so. With vehicle crashes remaining the number one killer of people ages 5-24 in the United States, it would be nice if instead of pretending to lead the world in encouraging safe AV technology testing and development we actually did.”
Jason Levine
Executive Director