SELF DRIVE Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3711 To amend title 49, United States Code, regarding the authority of the Na- tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration over highly automated vehicles, to provide safety measures for such vehicles, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Mr. LATTA (for himself, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. UPTON, Mr. PENCE, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. LONG, Mr. MULLIN, and Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, and Transportation and In- frastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, regarding the author- ity of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra- tion over highly automated vehicles, to provide safety measures for such vehicles, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3711 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2 ‘‘Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research 3 In Vehicle Evolution Act’’ or the ‘‘SELF DRIVE Act’’. 4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 5 this Act is as follows: 6 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purpose. Sec. 3. NHTSA authority and State preemption for autonomous motor vehicles. Sec. 4. Updated or new motor vehicle safety standards for highly automated ve- hicles. Sec. 5. Cybersecurity of automated driving systems. Sec. 6. General exemptions. Sec. 7. Motor vehicle testing or evaluation. Sec. 8. Information on highly automated driving systems made available to pro- spective buyers. Sec. 9. Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Council. Sec. 10. Rear seat occupant alert system. Sec. 11. Headlamps. Sec. 12. Privacy plan required for highly automated vehicles. Sec. 13. Definitions. SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 7 The purpose of this Act is to clarify the Federal role 8 in ensuring the safety of highly automated vehicles as it 9 relates to design, construction, and performance, by en- 10 couraging the testing and deployment of such vehicles. 11 SEC. 3. NHTSA AUTHORITY AND STATE PREEMPTION FOR 12 AUTONOMOUS MOTOR VEHICLES. 13 Section 30103 of title 49, United States Code, is 14 amended— 15 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol- 16 lows: 17 ‘‘(b) PREEMPTION.— 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3711 IH ‘‘(1) HIGHLY AUTOMATED VEHICLES.—No 1 State or political subdivision of a State may main- 2 tain, enforce, prescribe, or continue in effect any law 3 or regulation regarding the design, construction, or 4 performance of highly automated vehicles, auto- 5 mated driving systems, or components of automated 6 driving systems unless such law or regulation is 7 identical to a standard prescribed under this chap- 8 ter. 9 ‘‘(2) MOTOR VEHICLE STANDARD.—When a 10 motor vehicle safety standard is in effect under this 11 chapter, a State or political subdivision of a State 12 may prescribe or continue in effect a standard appli- 13 cable to the same aspect of performance of a motor 14 vehicle or motor vehicle equipment only if the stand- 15 ard is identical to the standard prescribed under this 16 chapter. 17 ‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub- 19 section may be construed to prohibit a State or 20 a political subdivision of a State from maintain- 21 ing, enforcing, prescribing, or continuing in ef- 22 fect any law or regulation regarding registra- 23 tion, licensing, driving education and training, 24 insurance, law enforcement, crash investiga- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3711 IH tions, safety and emissions inspections, conges- 1 tion management of vehicles on the street with- 2 in a State or political subdivision of a State, or 3 traffic unless the law or regulation is an unrea- 4 sonable restriction on the design, construction, 5 or performance of highly automated vehicles, 6 automated driving systems, or components of 7 automated driving systems. 8 ‘‘(B) MOTOR VEHICLE DEALERS.—Nothing 9 in this subsection may be construed to prohibit 10 a State or political subdivision of a State from 11 maintaining, enforcing, prescribing, or con- 12 tinuing in effect any law or regulation regard- 13 ing the sale, distribution, repair, or service of 14 highly automated vehicles, automated driving 15 systems, or components of automated driving 16 systems by a dealer, manufacturer, or dis- 17 tributor. 18 ‘‘(C) CONFORMITY WITH FEDERAL LAW.— 19 Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 20 preempt, restrict, or limit a State or political 21 subdivision of a State from acting in accordance 22 with any other Federal law. 23 ‘‘(4) HIGHER PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT.— 24 However, the United States Government, a State, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3711 IH a political subdivision of a State may prescribe a 1 standard for a motor vehicle, motor vehicle equip- 2 ment, highly automated vehicle, or automated driv- 3 ing system obtained for its own use that imposes a 4 higher performance requirement than that required 5 by the otherwise applicable standard under this 6 chapter. 7 ‘‘(5) STATE ENFORCEMENT.—A State may en- 8 force a standard that is identical to a standard pre- 9 scribed under this chapter.’’; 10 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 11 lows: 12 ‘‘(e) COMMON LAW LIABILITY.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Compliance with a motor 14 vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter 15 does not exempt a person from liability at common 16 law. 17 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 18 this section shall be construed to preempt common 19 law claims.’’; and 20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(f) LICENSING.—A State may not issue a motor ve- 22 hicle operator’s license for the operation or use of a dedi- 23 cated highly automated vehicle in a manner that discrimi- 24 nates on the basis of disability (as defined in section 3 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Jul 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3711 IH of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 1 12102)).’’. 2 SEC. 4. UPDATED OR NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STAND- 3 ARDS FOR HIGHLY AUTOMATED VEHICLES. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 301 of subtitle VI of title 5 49, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec- 6 tion 30128 the following new section: 7 ‘‘§ 30129. Updated or new motor vehicle safety stand- 8 ards for highly automated vehicles 9 ‘‘(a) SAFETY ASSESSMENT CERTIFICATION.— 10 ‘‘(1) FINAL RULE.—Not later than 24 months 11 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 12 Secretary of Transportation shall issue a final rule 13 requiring the submission of safety assessment certifi- 14 cations regarding how safety is being addressed by 15 each entity developing a highly automated vehicle or 16 an automated driving system. Such rule shall in- 17 clude— 18 ‘‘(A) a specification of which entities are 19 required to submit such certifications; 20 ‘‘(B) a clear description of the relevant test 21 results, data, and other contents required to be 22 submitted by such entity, in order to dem- 23 onstrate that such entity’s vehicles are likely to 24 maintain safety, and function as intended and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3711 IH contain fail safe features, to be included in such 1 certifications; and 2 ‘‘(C) a specification of the circumstances 3 under which such certifications are required to 4 be updated or resubmitted. 5 ‘‘(2) INTERIM REQUIREMENT.—Until the final 6 rule issued under paragraph (1) takes effect, safety 7 assessment letters shall be submitted to the National 8 Highway Traffic Safety Administration as con- 9 templated by the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy 10 issued in September 2016, or any successor guid- 11 ance issued on highly automated vehicles requiring a 12 safety assessment letter. 13 ‘‘(3) PERIODIC REVIEW AND UPDATING.—Not 14 later than 5 years after the date on which the final 15 rule is issued under paragraph (1), and not less fre- 16 quently than every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary 17 shall— 18 ‘‘(A) review such rule; and 19 ‘‘(B) update such rule if the Secretary con- 20 siders it necessary. 21 ‘‘(4) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 22 ‘‘(A) NO CONDITIONS ON DEPLOYMENT.— 23 Nothing in this subsection may be construed to 24 limit or affect the Secretary’s authority under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3711 IH any other provision of law. The Secretary may 1 not condition deployment or testing of highly 2 automated vehicles on review of safety assess- 3 ment certifications. 4 ‘‘(B) NO NEW AUTHORITIES.—No new au- 5 thorities are granted to the Secretary under 6 this section other than the promulgation of the 7 rule pursuant to paragraph (1). 8 ‘‘(5) REVIEW AND RESEARCH.—To accommo- 9 date the development and deployment of highly auto- 10 mated vehicles and to ensure the safety and security 11 of highly automated vehicles and motor vehicles and 12 others that will share the roads with highly auto- 13 mated vehicles, not later than 180 days after the 14 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary 15 shall— 16 ‘‘(A) initiate or continue a review of the 17 Federal motor vehicle safety standards in effect 18 on such date of enactment; and 19 ‘‘(B) initiate or continue research regard- 20 ing new Federal motor vehicle safety standards. 21 ‘‘(b) RULEMAKING AND SAFETY PRIORITY PLAN.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 23 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary 24 shall make available to the public and submit to the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3711 IH Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 1 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 2 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a rule- 3 making and safety priority plan, as necessary to ac- 4 commodate the development and deployment of high- 5 ly automated vehicles and to ensure the safety and 6 security of highly automated vehicles and motor ve- 7 hicles and others that will share the roads with high- 8 ly automated vehicles, to— 9 ‘‘(A) update the motor vehicle safety 10 standards in effect on such date of enactment; 11 ‘‘(B) issue new motor vehicle safety stand- 12 ards; and 13 ‘‘(C) consider how objective ranges in per- 14 formance standards could be used to test motor 15 vehicle safety standards, which safety standards 16 would be appropriate for such testing, and 17 whether additional authority would facilitate 18 such testing. 19 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF PRIORITIES.— 20 ‘‘(A) PRIORITIES.—The plan required by 21 paragraph (1) shall detail the overall priorities 22 of the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin- 23 istration for the 5 years following the issuance 24 of the plan, including both priorities with re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3711 IH spect to highly automated vehicles and priorities 1 with respect to other safety initiatives of the 2 Administration, in order to meet the Nation’s 3 motor vehicle safety challenges. 4 ‘‘(B) IDENTIFICATION OF ELEMENTS THAT 5 MAY REQUIRE STANDARDS.—For highly auto- 6 mated vehicles, the National Highway Traffic 7 Safety Administration should identify elements 8 that may require performance standards includ- 9 ing human machine interface, sensors, and ac- 10 tuators, and consider process and procedure 11 standards for software and cybersecurity as 12 necessary. 13 ‘‘(3) PERIODIC UPDATING.—The plan required 14 by paragraph (1) shall be updated every 2 years, or 15 more frequently if the Secretary considers it nec- 16 essary. 17 ‘‘(4) RULEMAKING PROCEEDINGS ON UPDATED 18 OR NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 20 months after the date of enactment of this sec- 21 tion, the Secretary shall initiate the first rule- 22 making proceeding in accordance with the rule- 23 making and safety priority plan required by 24 paragraph (1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3711 IH ‘‘(B) PRIORITIZATION OF SUBSEQUENT 1 PROCEEDINGS.—The Secretary shall continue 2 initiating rulemaking proceedings in accordance 3 with such plan. The Secretary may change at 4 any time those priorities to address matters the 5 Secretary considers of greater priority. If the 6 Secretary makes such a change, the Secretary 7 shall complete an interim update of the priority 8 plan, make such update available to the public, 9 and submit such update to the Committee on 10 Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep- 11 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 12 Science, and Transportation of the Senate.’’. 13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 14 ter 301 of subtitle VI of title 49, United States Code, is 15 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 16 30128 the following new item: 17 ‘‘30129. Updated or new motor vehicle safety standards for highly auto- mated vehicles.’’. SEC. 5. CYBERSECURITY OF AUTOMATED DRIVING SYS- 18 TEMS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 301 of subtitle VI of title 20 49, United States Code, is amended by inserting after sec- 21 tion 30129 (as added by section 4) the following new sec- 22 tion: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:55 Jun 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3711.IH H3711 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3711 IH ‘‘§ 30130. Cybersecurity of automated driving systems 1 ‘‘(a) CYBERSECURITY PLAN.—A manufacturer may 2 not [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]