WASHINGTON, D.C. -

While consumer sentiment for these type of units remains soft, the Department of Transportation on Tuesday unveiled a Federal Automated Vehicles Policy aimed at guiding the testing and deployment of automated vehicles.

Automated vehicles, which can take over some or all of the driving task, are purported to have the potential to prevent human-error car crashes, reduce transportation costs, reduce road congestion and carbon emissions, and increase mobility for the elderly and those with disabilities.

Earlier this year, President Obama called for a $4 billion investment in automated vehicle deployment through real-world pilots. And the Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge announced $40 million to help Columbus, Ohio, become the first U.S. city to fully integrate innovative technologies — including automated vehicle technologies — into its transportation network.

“There’s an interesting dichotomy between the potential safety benefits of autonomous technology and the potential risk we’ll be facing as this tech goes from trial-and-error to ready-for-prime-time," Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said.

"The DOT's guidelines clearly attempt to balance these issues by creating a far more responsive system for monitoring self-driving technology while allowing for quick course corrections as needed," Brauer continued. " The government doesn’t want to stifle autonomous innovation, particularly in an era when human-caused traffic fatalities are rising again. Yet one or two high-profile injuries or fatalities could set consumer acceptance of self-driving tech back years.

"There’s no clear pathway here, but the DOT has provided basic coordinates for a rudimentary map," he added.

The DOT’s policy package includes four sections:

Vehicle performance guidance for manufacturers, developers and others outlining a 15-point “Safety Assessment” for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of highly automated vehicles. Included is a mandate that automakers sign and submit this safety assessment to certify that their vehicles are ready for public roads.

Model for state policy that presents a clear distinction between federal and state responsibilities and recommends policy areas for states to consider with a goal of generating a consistent national framework for the testing and operation of automated vehicles while leaving room for learning and valuable state discretion.

—Current regulatory tools that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) can use to aid the safe development of automated vehicles, such as interpreting current rules to allow for appropriate flexibility in design, providing limited exemptions to allow for testing of nontraditional vehicle designs, and ensuring that unsafe automated vehicles are removed from the road.                                   

—New tools and authorities that NHTSA could consider seeking in the future to aid the safe and efficient deployment of new lifesaving technologies and ensure that technologies deployed on the road are safe. For example, NHTSA is seeking public feedback on whether to consider pre-approving novel automated vehicle technologies before they are allowed on public roads and whether to create a new Federal safety standard for revolutionary vehicle designs, such as ones that do not require a steering wheel or gas pedal.

Concurrent with this policy, NHTSA is releasing a clarification of how its recall authority applies to automated vehicle technologies.

The regulator emphasizes that semi-automated driving systems that fail to adequately account for the possibility that a distracted or inattentive driver-occupant might fail to retake control of the vehicle in a safety-critical situation may be defined as an unreasonable risk to safety and subject to recall. This ensures that companies and Americans understand expectations around safety. If NHTSA determines that a vehicle is unsafe, it will use its authority to remove it from the road.

Additional steps regulators will take:

Significant portions of the vehicle performance guidance will be effective immediately, but NHTSA will continue to solicit feedback including through a public comment period, workshops and expert review. The policy document will be updated annually to reflect public input.

As part of Smart Cities Week, the administration next week will announce new steps to help cities continue to shape the future of urban transportation and address community challenges with the help of new technologies.

The White House Frontiers Conference will take place Oct. 13 in Pittsburgh, and will bring together some of the world’s leading innovators to discuss how investing in science and technology frontiers — including automated vehicles — will benefit America and Americans.

DOT will release a set of best practices to the automotive industry for improving vehicle cybersecurity. These best practices, along with cybersecurity elements in the policy being released Wednesday, will apply to all vehicles regardless of their level of automation.

DOT will release a proposed rule to mandate that new vehicles have technology to transmit and receive a basic safety message.

Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive officer of Consumer Technology Association, lauded the DOT’s policy.

"The guidelines released are a crucial next step in establishing a strong federal role in providing oversight and guidance to the states; a welcome approach to avoid patchwork laws that might inhibit innovation or make the latest cutting-edge technology inaccessible to consumers,” he said in a news release. "Driverless cars and connected cars have the potential to reduce more than 90 percent of accidents caused by human error, save thousands of lives a year in the U.S., eliminate hours wasted in traffic and reduce the cost of car insurance.

"As our industry continues to research and develop the technologies that will usher in the age of the driverless car, we will continue to collaborate with the government to find solutions to policy challenges that provide for safety while allowing for innovation and real-world testing,” he continued.

Forthcoming research from CTA indicates that 70 percent of consumers express a strong interest in test-driving an autonomous car, and more than 60 percent would replace a car or truck they now own or lease with a 100 percent self-driving vehicle.

Survey: Drivers wary of relinquishing control

Survey results from Alman Vilandrie and Co. show a more conservative consumer view.

According to that company’s research, 43 percent of U.S. consumers would buy or ride in an autonomous vehicle if the option were broadly available today.

However, 64 percent of consumers surveyed said they would not buy an AV because they believe such vehicles are dangerous. Eighteen percent said they would ride in but not buy a self-driving car, and 25 percent said they would purchase an AV despite some having concerns about the vehicles’ safety.

“There is clear evidence that a quarter of American consumers who’d prefer redirecting time spent driving towards leisure or work are very optimistic about purchasing and adopting AVs. However, despite evidence that AVs will likely reduce road fatalities, many drivers are wary of giving up control of the wheel to a software program,” said Altman Vilandrie & Co. director Soumen Ganguly, who co-directed the survey. “It’s clear that to achieve broad market share the AV industry must bring the early adopters on board while also making the general driving public much more comfortable with the concept of self-driving cars.”

The survey identified a group of “early adopters,” or 16 percent of consumers, nearly all of whom say they plan to buy an AV. These “early adopters” typically are higher income, urban professionals who are constantly seeking out new technologies, could provide the AVs with a solid foothold in the automobile market — especially since these consumers say they would pay on average $7,000 more for their next vehicle than the average car buyer.

“The communication and automation we all have become comfortable with on our phones will inevitably make their way into the car,” said Altman Vilandrie & Co. director Moe Kelley. “We’ve seen through the adoption of other technologies that there is initial resistance to change — people can’t always recognize the benefits of something they haven’t experienced, and this is certainly true with something as culturally important to Americans as driving.

“But the survey identifies a critical mass of consumers who want self-driving cars, certainly enough to justify the industry’s growing investment in this area.”

Kelley noted that ride sharing could provide an early opportunity to introduce consumers to AVs, pointing to Uber’s recent launch of a test fleet of AVs in Pittsburgh. The survey indicated that more than 15 percent of the U.S. population have ride-sharing or vehicle-sharing accounts, with about 10 percent using these services more than once per month. Ride sharers are a promising demographic for AVs, with only 25 percent saying they wouldn’t ride in a self-driving vehicle.

Other notable survey findings:

—Those likely to buy an AV said they would turn to traditional automotive brands Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota ahead of the upstart carmaker. However, Tesla scores higher among younger likely buyers, and still rated ahead of VW and Chrysler among all likely buyers.

—Overall, consumers say they are attracted to some of the benefits of AVs, including swapping driving for leisure time (68 percent) and no longer needing to navigate (67 percent).

—While interest in assisted driving features such as blind spot detection, auto braking and driver drowsiness detection increased with age (being highest in those above 55 years old), fully autonomous operation scored higher among younger drivers.

—While 62 percent of consumers viewed high-tech connectivity features, including Internet radio and voice-activated controls, as important in making a car purchase, traditional factors like price (96 percent), fuel efficiency (95 percent) and safety features (92 percent) were more attractive to buyers.

—Tools that allow drivers to talk with the car are considerably more desired by consumers than other high-tech features. Nearly half of consumers said they wanted voice-activated controls (45 percent), compared to backseat entertainment (9 percent) and in-car WiFi (11 percent).

Altman Vilandrie & Co. also interviewed leaders in the car, technology and mobile communications sectors to get a sense of the challenges and opportunities related to autonomous vehicle development. The consensus among the experts was that the full integration of self-driving cars would occur gradually over the next 15 years, with the rollout of full autonomous control under certain traffic and road conditions happening as early as 2021. The experts also identified four key technical areas that need to be addressed before wide adoption of AVs: sensing technology, mapping, infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.

Most of the industry experts believe we are on a road to a fully autonomous-driving society. “The endgame is that we will have to go to a theme park in order to drive,” said one former industry CEO. “It won’t happen in the next two decades but in the future driving won’t be something you do in your life.”

Altman Vilandrie & Co. surveyed more than 2,500 U.S. consumers in July and also polled more than 20 automotive industry experts. The survey also gauged consumer sentiments on electric vehicles, the results of which will be released later this fall.