Alabama legislators are hoping that Auburn University and the University of Alabama can help the state and the country get ahead in regulating self-driving cars and promoting research and development.
On Thursday, the Joint Legislative Committee on Self-Driving Vehicles held its first meeting at Auburn’s Center for Advanced Science, Innovation and Commerce. Auburn’s State Sen. Tom Whatley was elected as chairman of the joint committee.
Whatley and other members of the committee hope the University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering can give the State Legislature guidance on how the state should deal with self-driving cars and the impacts they may have on safety, revenue and insurance.
The Legislature appropriated nearly $250,000 to Auburn last year to study autonomous vehicles. Whatley hopes the Legislature can increase appropriations this year and possibly establish an independent research institute with help from Auburn and the University of Alabama.
“I would like to see appropriations even increase after that,” Whatley said.
The Joint Legislative Committee was established to study what effects self-driving vehicles may have and what legislation may be needed to regulate those effects. They hope to survey legislation in other states and get industry advice before the committee passes any bills on to the full legislature.
More than 34,000 fatal car accidents occurred in the U.S. in 2015, and more than 94 percent of those were caused by human error, according to the experts who spoke at the meeting Thursday. Fifty percent of the accidents occur simply from lane departure. Driverless cars have the ability to prevent the vast majority of those accidents before they happen.
Budgetary concerns are some of the top issues if self-driving cars become prominent in the state. In addition to preventing accidents, self-driving cars could drastically reduce speeding tickets, DUIs and other traffic citations, which provide more than $200 million in revenue to the state government and municipalities in Alabama.
“If we eliminate DUIs, if we eliminate speeding, if we eliminate running stop signs, that’s going to have a negative effect on the income that’s brought in through fines and fees,” Whatley said.
Budget concerns weren’t the only topic on the agenda Thursday. The committee also asked presenters from Auburn and Alabama to address topics like auto loans and car insurance, which normally require a licensed driver to be purchased under Alabama law.
If cars drive themselves, Whatley noted, who would need a license and could license-less riders get loans to purchase a self-driving car?
Driverless cars will be a common occurrence on the road even faster than most people think, Sen. Gerald Dial said.
David Bevly, a professor of mechanical engineering and the founder of Auburn’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Lab, said driverless cars are already on the road for research and tests in many states, and many new vehicles can already be purchased with lower-level automated features.
At Auburn’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Lab, researchers and graduate students have been studying autonomous vehicles for more than a decade. Auburn researchers recently developed technology that will allow tractor-trailers to platoon, driving closely together to increase fuel efficiency.
Auburn’s technology uses close-range radar and wireless connections to enable the trailing vehicle to follow closely behind the leading vehicle, at ranges as close as 5–15 meters. If the first vehicle in the platoon stops, the second brakes automatically. Platooning allows both trucks to reduce fuel consumption by an average of 8 percent.
Bevly said “platooning legislation” that would allow for this type of technology on the road would be a good start for the state. Walmart and Target, even though they are fierce competitors, have said they would work together to platoon because of the fuel efficiency and cost saving.
The committee hearing today saw representatives from Auburn, Alabama, Honda, Mercedes, local officials and the Association of Global Automakers.
Davie Garriepy, a representative from Global Automakers, said the state should avoid contributing to a patchwork of different regulations across state lines, eliminate barriers to innovation and avoid establishing strict regulations that would inhibit development.
“Automated technology does exist,” Garriepy said. “I think that’s an important note in the public policy point because we’ve quickly jumped to self-driving cars and fully automated vehicles. We’ve seen other states pass legislation that would ban technologies that are currently on today’s roads.”
Allowing automation technology to develop could save lives, improve traffic flow and reduce fuel consumption across the board, Garriepy said.
Auburn Rep. Joe Lovvorn, who recently won election in September, is a member of the joint committee and said he is excited about the opportunities the self-driving technology may present in terms of economic development and safety.
“This was a great initial discussion,” Lovvorn said. “We had industry experts, the safety aspect, the research technology. Alabama could be a leader in this innovation. We’re already so far ahead of many other states. We have the universities working hard on it. I think we need to grab ahold of the opportunities because the technology is coming. It’s already here. It’s already making our highways safer.”
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