The Road to Successful Governance of Automated Vehicles
Authored By Austin Brown, Executive Director, Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy Greg Rodriguez, Of Counsel, Best, Best & Krieger Tiffany Hoang, Graduate Student Researcher, Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy
Federal governance of AVs has been limited. To date, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has issued only voluntary guidelines on AV development and deployment....So far, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted AV-related legislation, while cities like Boston and Portland have adopted AV policy frameworks. State and local AV polices involve a variety of approaches from requiring testing permits to encouraging electric and shared AVs. This illustrates that there is no “one-size-fits-all” way to govern AVs...States and local governments have many goals for their transportation systems, including reducing congestion, improving equity, and reducing pollution. AVs will be a powerful tool to achieve these goals, but only if good governance structures empower these governments to set good policy.