[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 12 (Thursday, January 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2719-2721]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00784]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Highway Administration
[Docket no. FHWA-2017-0049]
Automated Driving Systems
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.
ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).
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SUMMARY: Automated Driving Systems (ADS) are increasingly being tested
and introduced onto the public roadways. The FHWA is interested in
hearing from the public, including stakeholders (e.g., State and local
agencies, vehicle manufacturing industry, road hardware and intelligent
transportation systems industry, related associations, transportation
advocates, ADS hardware and software platform developers, etc.), on a
range of issues related to assessing the infrastructure requirements
and standards that may be necessary for enabling safe and efficient
operations of ADS.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 5, 2018.
ADDRESSES:
To ensure that you do not duplicate your docket submissions, please
submit all comments by only one of the following means:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-
0001.
Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is (202) 366-
9329.
Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket
number at the beginning of your comments. All comments received will be
posted without change to http://
[[Page 2720]]
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this notice,
contact Martin C. Knopp, Associate Administrator for Operations,
Federal Highway Administration, (202) 366-9210, or via email at
[email protected]; for legal questions: Mr. William Winne, Office of
the Chief Counsel, (202) 366-1397, or via email at
[email protected]; 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590.
Business hours for FHWA are from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., e.t., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access and Filing
A copy of this document is available for download and public
inspection under the docket number noted above at the Federal
eRulemaking portal at: http://www.regulations.gov. You may also submit
or retrieve comments online through the Federal eRulemaking portal. The
website is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. Electronic
submission and retrieval help and guidelines are available under the
help section of the website.
An electronic copy of this document may also be downloaded from
Office of the Federal Register's home page at: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register and the Government Publishing Office's web page at:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ fdsys/. Late comments will be considered to the
extent practicable.
Background
Automated Driving Systems are increasingly being tested and
introduced onto the public roadways. Many road owners and operators are
trying to determine whether, and which, modifications or enhancements
to the infrastructure are needed to eliminate barriers to ADS
technology or to further accelerate its adoption, as well as to ensure
highway safety. Some vehicle manufacturers have expressed an interest
in greater uniformity of lane markings, signage, and other traffic
control devices as being helpful for ADS operation. Infrastructure
providers have expressed an interest in understanding which traffic
control device materials and other characteristics present challenges
for ADS, specifically the machine vision technologies' ability to
interpret some roadway markings over others.
The FHWA is interested in hearing from the public, including
stakeholders (e.g., State and local agencies, vehicle manufacturing
industry, road hardware and intelligent transportation systems
industry, related associations, transportation advocates, ADS hardware
and software platform developers, etc.), on a range of issues related
to assessing the infrastructure requirements, ADS-infrastructure
interface standards and operating practices that may be necessary for
enabling safe and efficient operations of ADS. The FHWA invites the
public to provide comments to inform the development of an agency
strategy on ADS.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently
released the ``Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety''
document. It replaces the 2016 Federal Automated Vehicles Policy. This
new document focuses on two sections: Voluntary guidance for ADS and
technical assistance to States. The FHWA aims to complement NHTSA's
guidance and will continue to coordinate across the U.S. Department of
Transportation in its automation activities. For information about the
recent guidance, please visit the Department's website at:
www.transportation.gov/av.
The FHWA seeks information directly from the public and
stakeholders to better understand FHWA's role in automation and inform
future Agency research and activities. In addition, FHWA seeks comments
more broadly on planning, development, maintenance, and operations of
the roadway infrastructure necessary for supporting ADS, including any
information detailing the costs associated with implementation.
Comments are requested on the following questions:
1. What roadway characteristics are important for influencing the
safety, efficiency, and performance of ADS? Are there certain physical
infrastructure elements (e.g., lane markings, signage, signals, etc.)
that are necessary for ADS? If so, what current challenges exist for
ADS to interpret them? Are these characteristics important for all
levels of automation, or only specific levels? (For levels of
automation, see https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf, page #4)
2. What challenges do non-uniform traffic control devices present
for ADS technologies and how does this affect the costs of ADS systems?
3. How does the state of good repair (e.g., pavement and road
markings quality) impact ADS, including technology or safety costs, if
at all?
4. How should FHWA engage with industry and automation technology
developers to understand potential infrastructure requirements? Are
there specific issues that FHWA should engage with industry directly?
5. What is the role of digital infrastructure and data in enabling
needed information exchange between ADS and roadside infrastructure?
What types of data transmission between ADS and roadside infrastructure
could enhance safe and efficient ADS operations? What type of
infrastructure and operations data, if available, would help accelerate
safe and efficient deployment of the ADS on our Nation's public
roadways? How might the interface between ADS and digital
infrastructure best be defined to facilitate nationwide
interoperability while still maximizing flexibility and cost
effectiveness for ADS technology developers and transportation agencies
and minimizing threats to cybersecurity or privacy?
6. What concerns do State and local agencies have regarding
infrastructure investment and planning for ADS, given the level of
uncertainty around the timing and development of this technology? How
should FHWA engage with its State and local partners as they consider
impacts on infrastructure, transportation funding, finance, and
revenue? Are changes to any of the programs that comprise the Federal-
aid Highway Program needed to enable State and local agencies to more
effectively make infrastructure investments to support deployment of
ADS?
7. Are there existing activities and research in the area of
assessing infrastructure-ADS interface needs and/or associated
standards? What is the current thinking on where potential revisions
may be necessary? How should FHWA work with existing research partners
(e.g., American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials, Transportation Research Board, etc.) in sharing research
results and information?
8. What are the priority issues that road owners and operators need
to consider in terms of infrastructure requirements, modifications,
investment, and planning, to accommodate integration of ADS and to
derive maximum system efficiency benefits from ADS additional
capabilities?
9. What variable information or data would ADS benefit from
obtaining and how should that data be best obtained? Examples might
include information about zone locations, incidents, special event
routing, bottleneck locations, weather conditions, and speed
recommendations.
10. What issues do road owners and operators need to consider in
terms of
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infrastructure modifications and traffic operations as they encounter a
mixed vehicle fleet (e.g., fully-automated, partially-automated, and
non-automated; cooperative and unconnected) during the transition
period to a potentially fully automated fleet? What are likely the most
significant impacts of ADS on other motorized and non-motorized users
of public roadways? What plans do stakeholders have to address these
impacts, and are there possible roles for road owners and operators to
support the interaction of ADS with those users through infrastructure
changes or operational strategies?
Issued: January 10, 2018.
Brandye L. Hendrickson,
Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-00784 Filed 1-17-18; 8:45 am]
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