WASHINGTON — Auto security and shopper advocates on Tuesday urged Congress to not advance autonomous automobile laws that they are saying lacks “widespread sense” safeguards and laws to guard highway customers.

“With almost 43,000 folks killed on our nation’s roadways in 2021, it’s clear that we’d like our leaders and policymakers to advance confirmed options to handle this public well being disaster. There isn’t any unbiased proof that AVs will achieve this,” Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Freeway and Auto Security, advised reporters throughout a digital press occasion Tuesday.

“In truth, what we do know is that the AVs on public roads have brought on havoc,” mentioned Chase, citing one human loss of life and greater than a dozen incidents the place self-driving vehicles “put firefighters and the general public in danger.”

The criticism comes forward of a Home listening to scheduled for Wednesday to think about separate draft laws on AVs from Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.

Each payments, although completely different, would set up a nationwide commonplace that permits for widespread testing and deployment of AVs, addresses sure security and safety dangers and different excellent points. Each, too, would increase the cap on exemptions that may be granted to producers of autos that would not have conventional controls akin to steering wheels or brake pedals. The present cap of two,500 can be elevated as much as 100,000 beneath Latta’s invoice, whereas Dingell’s model would enhance it as much as 80,000.

Chase mentioned her group doesn’t assist both invoice in present type.

“Most actually, any laws mustn’t erode present federal security requirements, mustn’t enable for tens of hundreds of AVs to be exempt from security laws, mustn’t prohibit states and localities from taking motion to guard the residents and guests, and mustn’t enable AV producers to deploy and promote their autos with out wanted oversight and accountability,” she mentioned.

Final week, greater than 20 organizations — together with Advocates and the Heart for Auto Security — and former NHTSA chief Joan Claybrook despatched a letter to subcommittee leaders opposing the laws into account, citing security considerations over the “quite a few operational failures of defective AV know-how.”

In the meantime, the Autonomous Automobile Business Affiliation — whose members embody Aurora, Cruise, Ford, Volkswagen, Waymo and Zoox — is urging federal lawmakers to cross AV laws to compete with China.

“These are surgical steps that can ship a robust message to the world that America is set to be the worldwide chief of the subsequent nice technological development,” Jeff Farrah, the group’s govt director, wrote in a visitor commentary printed by Automotive Information this week. “With out them, the American AV business will wrestle to take the subsequent leap ahead, the place we reap the total advantages of elevated security, accessibility and provide chain resilience.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents most automakers within the U.S. in addition to some suppliers and tech firms which can be creating AV applied sciences, is also urgent the Biden administration for motion.

“The flexibility of the U.S. to protect its management in AV know-how is in jeopardy as a result of lack of a transparent federal regulatory method and framework that helps U.S.-based AV deployment at scale,” Bozzella wrote in a letter despatched Monday to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Nationwide Financial Council Director Lael Brainard.

“To keep up the worldwide competitiveness of our auto business, the federal authorities should actively assist and promote AV improvement and commercialization within the U.S.,” the letter reads.

In a July 17 letter, 4 lawmakers — Reps. Dingell and Latta; Tim Walberg, R-Mich.; and Marc Veasey, D-Texas — urged the Biden administration to research and restrict the operation of AVs made by Chinese language firms within the U.S., citing considerations of nationwide safety and competitiveness.

Missy Cummings, a former senior security adviser to NHTSA, pushed again on claims that China is within the lead on AVs.

“Any claims that China is getting forward of us within the self-driving race, and it is our onerous federal laws which can be holding firms again from being profitable, I imply, these are false and so they’re fear-baiting,” mentioned Cummings, who’s a professor at George Mason College’s Faculty of Engineering and Computing.

Earlier legislative makes an attempt have stalled in Congress, with lawmakers typically supportive of a federal framework however divided over varied authorized and shopper issues.

Ongoing pushback from teams representing customers, trial legal professionals and transportation unions even have impeded legislative efforts.

In an interview Tuesday with Automotive Information, Dingell mentioned she and Latta are dedicated to passing laws this 12 months, and Wednesday’s listening to is one step towards discovering widespread floor.

“What we actually need to do is we need to know what stakeholders like, what they do not like, what’s lacking and what must be struck,” she mentioned. “We have to transfer this ahead. Fairly frankly, we’re behind.”

Latta renewed efforts in 2020 to push laws by Congress by reintroducing the Self Drive Act, which might set up a federal framework to make sure the protection of AVs whereas exempting them from sure nationwide security requirements and preempting states from enacting legal guidelines relating to these autos.

The invoice was handed unanimously by the Home in 2017. A complementary invoice — the AV Begin Act — was later launched within the Senate. Each payments stalled there in 2018.

NHTSA this 12 months established the Workplace of Automation Security to concentrate on automated driving techniques and different superior automobile applied sciences.

“The workplace will likely be liable for creating the subsequent technology of security requirements, evaluating and processing petitions, managing exemptions, and creating and managing particular applications for analysis, demonstrations and information,” NHTSA mentioned in a press release.

The company additionally is anticipated to challenge a proposed rule-making this fall on the ADS-equipped Automobile Security, Transparency and Analysis Program, or AV STEP, that would supply an alternate regulatory avenue for deploying self-driving autos on U.S. roads.

Whereas the precise variety of autos allowed stays to be decided, business specialists anticipate it to be considerably greater than the two,500-vehicle most at present permitted by a course of that permits firms to request an exemption from federal motorcar security requirements.

The brand new program could possibly be a giant assist to Common Motors specifically. The automaker submitted an exemption request for its Cruise Origin robotaxi in February 2022 and is awaiting a choice from U.S. Division of Transportation officers.

NHTSA mentioned it is going to present GM with a solution “quickly.”

Pete Bigelow contributed to this report.