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Attorney Melissa Wade advocates not only for her company’s autonomous technology — but for other businesses in the industry as well.
Aurora Innovation’s senior director of government relations is continuing the push for a federal AV framework as the new board chair of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, she told Trucking Dive in an interview.
“The call for a federal framework is going to be a drumbeat you hear consistently,” Wade said in the video interview last week. “It would be, I think, an incredible signal internationally, here for investors, for supply chain companies, for customers, the whole ecosystem, would benefit from having a clear vision.”
AVIA represents numerous autonomous driving technology companies including Aurora, Gatik, Kodiak Robotics, Volvo Autonomous Solutions and Waabi innovation.
While trucking companies may be competing to scale their technology, the U.S. also has competition from abroad, and state-by-state regulations currently mean differences across the country, creating a less-than-ideal environment for businesses that they seek to deliver the capabilities of AV.
Wade held key legislative positions on the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where she participated in the work of the subcommittee on autonomous vehicles.
While a congressional effort passed a House account in 2017 to bring further uniformity to the industry, a Senate version failed to materialize. But the Department of Transportation can still complete almost all of the changes proposed in the bill, Wade said.
“The secret about the Self-Drive Act is that the DOT could go and do 90, 95 percent of this bill on its own today if it wanted to,” he said. “There are a handful of things that need to change with the actual legislative changes to the language of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. But most of them have great discretion.”
Companies seeking to scale the equipment have focused on Texas, one of many states which paved the way for autonomous vehicles on the roads.
Advocates say autonomous vehicles could reduce traffic fatalitiesand federal regulators continue to oversees technology.
“I think the biggest piece, from my perspective, as I look to 2024,” Wade said, “is continuing to develop the connection, supporting public policy to promote the safe and timely development of AVs and then help in education.’