Ranking Members Larsen, Norton Statements from Hearing on the Future of Automated Vehicles

Press Release

"Thank you, Chair Crawford and Ranking Member Norton, for holding this hearing.

Today's hearing is an opportunity for Members to learn more about the state of the automated commercial motor vehicle industry--what's happening now, what we might see in the future, and how these technological changes will impact public safety, jobs and the movement of goods.

The T&I Committee regularly discusses the impacts of automation across many modes and in different contexts.

Autonomous commercial vehicles (AVs), however, are in a league of their own in terms of potential impact. Consideration of policy surrounding this technology deserves a high degree of scrutiny for several reasons:

The size and reach of this industry: trucks move over 70% of the nation's freight by weight, and there are 13.8 million large trucks registered in the U.S.;
The size of the workforce: in 2022, the industry employed 3.5 million truck drivers;
The interface with travelers and communities: every mile and every hour of a truck's operation is on shared public roads used by families including highways, rural roads, and neighborhood streets; and
The safety realities of this industry: every year currently over 5,000 people are killed in crashes involving large trucks on our roads.

Let's start with safety first. In 2021, 5,788 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks.

Non-drivers are particularly vulnerable in roadway crashes--pedestrian fatalities have reached a 41-year high, and bicyclist fatalities have a 46-year high.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the safety implications of AVs. While these vehicles hold the promise of reducing driver errors, like distraction or driving under the influence, they also raise different and new safety questions.

How will AVs make split-second decisions on the roadway? Will they be able to recognize and avoid vulnerable road users? Will the people who program and develop AVs be able to program and develop them to ensure that trucks recognize and avoid vulnerable road users? Can they interact safely with emergency vehicles like police cruisers or fire trucks? These outcomes will have life-or-death implications.

While the status quo on highway fatalities is unacceptable, AVs must be held to the highest safety standards as they are developed and deployed. We can't substitute one inadequate system for another.

Next let's look at jobs. I often talk about transportation as a job-creator, including how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is projected to create over 700,000 jobs per year.

While autonomous trucks may create new or different jobs, with human drivers overseeing or dispatching AVs, their mass deployment stands to eliminate jobs or degrade wages for the existing truck drivers.

Commercial AVs are not limited to trucks. Transit bus operators also face job losses or changes if a human driver becomes unnecessary.

AV technology has the potential to make truck driving a better job by helping shift more work to safer, more predictable jobs in short-haul routes or dispatching.

But AVs can also threaten a career choice that has long been a path to the middle class and a good paycheck.

I encourage our industry witnesses to work closely with truck drivers, including labor and independent owner-operators, to hear their concerns and harness their real-world experience to make sure the power of this technology builds a safer, cleaner motor carrier industry with better jobs for the women and men who move goods.

Finally, let's look at the practical impacts. AVs have the potential to improve mobility and accessibility.

But they could also worsen congestion and carbon pollution. In a world in which cars and trucks could operate without drivers, it is not hard to imagine that gridlock and pollution could come alongside a nascent technology. Unlike a smartphone, this isn't a case where we can put technology out there and work out the kinks as we go along.

There are also implications for our infrastructure. Roadway conditions vary road by road, state by state, and day by day with the changing weather.

Technology and those who develop it need to ensure consistency and uniformity to perform as expected regardless of everyday conditions. As AVs deploy, we may learn quickly the required changes to signage, lane striping, or even roadway design that are needed for them to perform optimally.

This is an issue of particular importance to this Committee, and a key question that will need answers as we look to the next round of investment in the revitalization of our roads and bridges.

A lot of questions, some of them are probably easily answerable, some probably not.

I look forward to hearing more about the state of the industry today and learning from our witnesses about how to best approach these opportunities and challenges."

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