Here are a few recent legal developments that parties interested in the development of autonomous vehicles may wish to follow:

• On May 28, 2019, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published an extension of the time until Aug. 26, 2019, for making comments to an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on what FMCSA regulations need to be amended to facilitate safely introducing Automated Driving Systems in commercial vehicles. See here for more information. The areas of inquiry in the ANPRM include the following: (1) whether a human driver is required; (2) confidentiality of shared information; (3) roadside inspections; (4) hours of service; (5)inspection, repair and maintenance; and (6) cybersecurity concerns.

• On May 28, 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also published an ANPRM requesting comments by July 29, 2019, on regulatory barriers to testing, compliance certification, and compliance verification of Automated Driving Systems. The ANPRM discussed proposed regulations that address crash worthiness and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Standards for vehicles that lack traditional manual controls. See here for more information.

• On June 3, 2019, the UK data protection regulator has released a draft report on how companies should use and inform consumers about the use of artificial intelligence. See here for more information. While this report discusses artificial intelligence concerns arising under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), it has some relevance to data privacy and cybersecurity issues associated with the development of AV’s. 

• On May 30, 2019, The California Department of Motor Vehicles heard comments from industry, business and transportation officials about new California regulations that establish testing protocols for autonomous light-duty (less than 10,001 pounds) commercial vehicles on California roadways. See here for more information.

• The Wisconsin Public Service Commission opened a docket in February 2019 to seek comments on the following issues for electrification of vehicles in Wisconsin: (1) whether barrier exist and, if so, what are the barriers; and (2) the top two or three areas of interest that interested parties have for the role of the PSC on this topic. See here for Docket Number 5-EI-156. The initial responses to this docket can be found at the following here. The PSC has extended the deadline for filing  comments on this docket to Sept. 30, 2019.