US automated vehicle policy marks next-step for auto industry

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has released its highly anticipated federal policy on the testing and deployment of automated vehicles. Laid out in four sections, the policy aims to be holistic, ensuring automated vehicles are safe and user-friendly before they reach wide scale adoption on public roads.

“Automated vehicles have the potential to save thousands of lives, driving the single biggest leap in road safety that our country has ever taken,” says US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This policy is an unprecedented step by the federal government to harness the benefits of transformative technology by providing a framework for how to do it safely.”

While some experts believe that the policy represents the first important step to the safe deployment of highly automated vehicles, others have urged US authorities to act quickly and take the policy one step further by providing a set of regulated safety standards.