Background
As Congress considers reviving efforts to pass critical Autonomous Vehicle (AV) regulatory reform on a bipartisan basis, the U.S. industry is currently falling behind China and other countries. For both safety and consumer acceptance purposes, we believe an incremental approach to autonomous travel is prudent. Not all autonomous technology advances at the same pace. AVs that are designed to travel along planned routes at relatively low speeds within defined operating environments provide Congress the best opportunity to advance this innovation while maximizing safety and growing consumer support.
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To overcome and ensure consideration of these challenges, the ACES Coalition stands by the fact that driver-less mobility does not mean human-less mobility. Establishing a regulatory framework to commercialize and scale ACES technology will create brand-new jobs in manufacturing, maintenance, software, and remote supervision. ACES will augment and strengthen existing shared mobility, not displace it.
Our Legislative PrioritiesÂ
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Ensure reforms are inclusive of shared-use HAVs. If Congress doesn’t account for next-generation shared-use HAVs that weigh between 10,000-14,000 pounds, we will not be able to address the major transportation issues, including congestion, carbon emissions, noise pollution, and road safety, that are caused and compounded by having too many cars on the road and not enough viable mobility alternatives for shorter trips.
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Allow public transportation operators to benefit from shared-use HAV technology. 45% of Americans have no access to public transportation. Shared-use HAVs can connect underserved communities, deliver first- and last-mile services to essential goods, services, and amenities in both rural and urban settings, provide safe and accessible solutions designed around the passenger experience, increase ridership by providing on ramps to public transit, supplement and extend existing modes with dynamic, data-driven services, and provide an out-of-the-box mobility network to smaller communities and those that either can’t afford or don’t want a traditional fixed route bus or light rail system.