[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65214-65216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25638]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DOT-OST-2019-0165]


Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) 
Council

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), Department of Transportation 
(DOT).

ACTION: Request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In April 2019, the Department of Transportation (DOT) created 
the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) 
Council, an internal deliberative body at DOT, to identify and resolve 
jurisdictional and regulatory gaps associated with non-traditional and 
emerging transportation projects pending before DOT, including with 
respect to safety oversight, environmental review, and funding issues. 
The Office of the Secretary of Transportation invites comments on 
projects, issues, or topics that DOT should consider through the NETT 
Council, including regulatory models and other alternative approaches 
for non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies.

DATES: Comments are requested by January 10, 2020. See the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section on ``Public Participation,'' below, 
for more information about written comments.
    Written Comments: Comments should refer to the docket number above 
and be submitted by one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
ET, Monday

[[Page 65215]]

through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
    Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the Public 
Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document. Note that all comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided.
    Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments received into 
the docket will be made public in their entirety. The comments will be 
searchable by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You should not include information in 
your comment that you do not want to be made public. You may review 
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published 
on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or at https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or to the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For policy issues, please email 
[email protected] or contact Philip Sung at 202-366-0442. For legal 
issues, please contact Sean Ford at 202-366-1841. Office hours are from 
8 a.m. to 5 p.m., EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Congress provides authority to the 
Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) to regulate the safety 
of transportation. This authority is implemented by the Department's 
operating administrations and extends to particular technologies and 
certain operational scenarios. Some new technologies and operational 
scenarios may not fit precisely into the Department's existing 
regulatory structure. The Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation 
Technology Council (Council or NETT Council) was formed to provide 
project sponsors a single point of access to the Department to discuss 
innovative transportation plans and proposals, to coordinate oversight 
of such projects, and to develop and establish Department-wide 
processes, solutions, and best practices for managing new 
transportation technology subject to the Department's jurisdiction.
    Since the Council's inception, innovators and stakeholders have 
approached the Department with concepts and ideas that vary in their 
stage of development. To ensure that the Council is responsive to the 
needs of the public and industry, the Department is interested in 
hearing from stakeholders and the public as to whether and to what 
extent the Department's existing regulatory construct supports or 
hinders innovation. The Department is also seeking comment on how the 
NETT Council can better be in a position to support transportation 
innovation.
    The questions below are meant to guide commenters; however, 
commenters are invited to provide their views on issues surrounding 
non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies and other 
general comments related to this topic. Further, although the questions 
focus on specific types of stakeholders, we would appreciate the views 
of all commenters on all questions. Finally, in this notice, the 
Department is not requesting comment on issues related to automated 
vehicles \1\ or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), except to the limited 
extent of operations where these technologies (or technologies based on 
or derived from them) are being used in ways that do not fit within the 
Department's existing regulatory structures. To the extent possible, 
please provide technical information, regulatory citations, data, or 
other evidence to support your comments.
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    \1\ For a description of the Department's activities on 
automated vehicles, please visit https://www.transportation.gov/AV.
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    1. Are there existing Federal transportation laws or regulations 
that inhibit innovation by creating barriers to testing, certifying or 
verifying compliance, or operating non-traditional and emerging 
transportation technologies? Please provide specific examples, explain 
why the requirement imposes a barrier, and identify the specific law or 
regulation that you believe should be changed and describe how it 
should be changed. Please identify all associated regulations that 
should be changed, including specific citations to the Code of Federal 
Regulations and explain the need for the change.
    2. Are there existing design or performance requirements that may 
contribute to a reduced safety purpose or impose more cost or 
restriction on the design of non-traditional and emerging 
transportation technologies than is warranted?
    3. If you identified a barrier to innovation in response to 
Question 1 or 2, above, can this barrier be removed or mitigated 
without resorting to additional rulemaking? If rulemaking is necessary, 
please identify all associated regulations that should be changed, 
including specific citations to the Code of Federal Regulations and 
explain the need for the change and how safety will not adversely be 
impacted.
    4. If you identified a barrier to innovation in response to 
Question 1 or 2, above, is legislation necessary to remove or mitigate 
that innovation barrier? Please identify the barrier with specificity, 
explain why it is a barrier, and identify the specific law that you 
believe should be changed. Please describe how it should be changed and 
why there will be no adverse impact to safety.
    5. Do you believe that there are international bodies or 
organizations (at any level) that the Department should be working with 
to develop standards or best practices for potential application to 
non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies in the United 
States?
    6. Does the current landscape of State/local/Tribal regulation for 
non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies hinder or 
support innovation? More specifically:
    a. What laws or regulations do State, local, or Tribal governments 
rely upon, other than Federal transportation laws and regulations, to 
regulate the safe design, construction, and operational safety of non-
traditional or emerging transportation technologies (e.g., hyperloop 
and non-traditional tunneling)? In what ways do these laws or 
regulations hinder or support innovation? (Please be specific in your 
response.)
    b. Are there State/local/Tribal occupational license regimes that 
govern the safe conduct of operators of non-traditional or emerging 
transportation technologies? Do they hinder or support innovation?
    c. Are there State/local/Tribal laws that assist innovators in 
developing safe prototypes, road testing, deploying, or commercializing 
new transportation technologies? (Comments on regulatory gaps or 
feasibility studies and analyses are encouraged.)
    7. Would intermodal or cross-sector regulations support or inhibit 
innovation and ensure safety of transportation infrastructure, as well 
as the safe movement of goods, services, capital and the traveling 
public? Please explain why or why not. Include specific examples, 
studies, or other data if available.
    8. Would cross-sector or cross-modal transportation safety 
regulations support or inhibit investments in non-traditional and 
emerging transportation

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technologies? Please explain why or why not. Include specific examples, 
studies, or other data if available.
    9. How can Federal policies, regulations, or legislation be used to 
foster mobility service providers, remove barriers to new non-
traditional and emerging transport operations, or promote safe, 
efficient, environmentally sound and user-friendly mobility systems? 
Please explain, using specific examples where feasible.
    10. Technology Companies/Innovators: What standards or code of 
conduct are relevant to ensuring a balance between supporting 
innovation and ensuring the safety of transportation infrastructure and 
the traveling public?
    11. Technology Companies/Innovators: What actions can the NETT 
Council take to support your work, while maintaining its safety focus?
    a. At what point in the development of the technology or operation 
would it be ideal to interface with the NETT Council?
    b. Considering the resource constraints and the potential cross 
modal nature of non-traditional and emerging transportation 
technologies, would an on-going relationship with the NETT Council 
during the development and construction of your project be helpful to 
assess potential safety risks and unintended consequences be helpful? 
If so, how often should engagements occur?
    12. Local, State, Tribal, and Other Public Entities: What support 
should the NETT Council consider providing when non-traditional/
emerging transportation technology companies propose a non-traditional 
or emerging transportation technology or system in your jurisdiction?
    a. In what way could Federal action help maintain the overall 
safety of the design, construction, and operation system? What aspects 
do you believe are best addressed by State, local, and Tribal entities? 
Please provide specific examples to support your comment.
    b. In what way could Federal actions assist you in overseeing any 
risks (safety or other) and unintended consequences that are local in 
nature? In what way could they interfere with your oversight and 
enforcement authorities? Please provide specific examples to support 
your comment.
    c. In what way could Federal actions improve or clarify oversight 
roles? Please provide specific examples to support your comment.
    13. Local, State, Tribal, and Other Public Entities: Has a company 
approached you about a non-traditional or emerging transportation 
technology? If so, are there any best practices you can share from 
working with companies that could shape how the NETT Council approaches 
non-traditional or emerging transportation proposals?

Public Participation

How do I prepare and submit comments?

    Your comments must be written in English. To ensure that your 
comments are filed correctly in the docket, please include the docket 
number of this document in your comments.
    Please submit one copy (two copies if submitting by mail or hand 
delivery) of your comments, including the attachments, to the docket 
following the instructions given above under ADDRESSES. Please note, if 
you are submitting comments electronically as a PDF (Adobe) file, we 
ask that the documents submitted be scanned using an Optical Character 
Recognition (OCR) process, thus allowing the agency to search and copy 
certain portions of your submissions.

How do I submit confidential business information?

    Any submissions containing Confidential Information must be 
delivered to OST in the following manner:
     Submitted in a sealed envelope marked ``confidential 
treatment requested'';
     Document(s) or information that the submitter would like 
withheld should be marked ``PROPIN''; Accompanied by an index listing 
the document(s) or information that the submitter would like the 
Departments to withhold. The index should include information such as 
numbers used to identify the relevant document(s) or information, 
document title and description, and relevant page numbers and/or 
section numbers within a document; and
     Submitted with a statement explaining the submitter's 
grounds for objecting to disclosure of the information to the public.
    OST will treat such marked submissions as confidential under the 
FOIA, and will not include it in the public docket. OST also requests 
that submitters of Confidential Information include a non-confidential 
version (either redacted or summarized) of those confidential 
submissions in the public docket. In the event that the submitter 
cannot provide a non-confidential version of its submission, OST 
requests that the submitter post a notice in the docket stating that it 
has provided OST with Confidential Information. Should a submitter fail 
to docket either a non-confidential version of its submission or to 
post a notice that Confidential Information has been provided, we will 
note the receipt of the submission on the docket, with the submitter's 
organization or name (to the degree permitted by law) and the date of 
submission.

Will the agency consider late comments?

    U.S. DOT will consider all comments received before the close of 
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To 
the extent possible, the Agency will also consider comments received 
after that date.

How can I read the comments submitted by other people?

    You may read the comments received at the address given above under 
WRITTEN COMMENTS. The hours of the docket are indicated above in the 
same location. You may also see the comments on the internet, 
identified by the docket number at the heading of this notice, at 
http://www.regulations.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, under authority delegated at 49 CFR 
1.25a.
Finch Fulton,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.
[FR Doc. 2019-25638 Filed 11-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P