[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 9, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13602-13605]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04877]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2021-0013]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for 
Comment; Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice and request for public comment on an extension of a 
currently-approved information collection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
invites public comments about our intention to request approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an extension of a 
currently-approved information collection. Before a Federal agency may 
collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval 
from OMB. Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit 
public comment on proposed collections of information, including 
extensions and reinstatements of previously approved collections. This 
document describes a collection of information for which NHTSA intends 
to seek OMB extension approval, titled ``Automated Driving Systems 2.0: 
A Vision for Safety'' and identified by OMB Control Number 2127-0723, 
which is currently approved through May 31, 2021. The burden hour 
calculations have been adjusted to reflect a reduction in burden as 
well as a reduction in the frequency of response resulting in a total 
annual burden hour

[[Page 13603]]

reduction from 86,100 hours to 12,000 hours.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 10, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments using any of the following methods:
     Electronic submissions: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: (202) 493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building 
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Telephone (202) 366-
9322.
    Instructions: Each submission must include the Agency name and the 
Docket number identified at the beginning of this document. Note that 
all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. 
Please see the Privacy Act heading below.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets 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 may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street 
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the 
dockets via internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access 
to background documents, contact Ms. Debbie Sweet, NHTSA, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590; Telephone (202) 366-7179; Fax: 
(202) 366-2106; email address: [email protected]. Please identify 
the relevant collection of information by referring to its OMB Control 
Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed 
collection of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a 
document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and 
otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies 
concerning each proposed collection of information. OMB has promulgated 
regulations describing what must be included in such a document. Under 
OMB's regulation (at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must request public 
comment on the following: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) how to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission of 
responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA asks for public 
comments on the extension of the following collection of information 
for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
    Title: Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently-approved information 
collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2127-0723.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review Requested: Regular.
    Requested Expiration Date of Approval: Three years from date of 
approval.
    Summary of the collection of Information: In September 2017, NHTSA 
published a policy document titled, Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A 
Vision for Safety (ADS 2.0). Recognizing the potential that Automated 
Driving Systems (ADSs) have to enhance safety and mobility, this policy 
document set out an approach to enable the safe deployment of Automated 
Driving Systems (SAE Automation Levels 3 through 5--Conditional, High, 
and Full Automation Systems as defined in SAE J3016).\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ For more information about SAE J3016, see https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3016_201806.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Consistent with its statutory purpose to reduce traffic crashes and 
deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents,\2\ NHTSA has 
recommended disclosure of information via a Voluntary Safety Self-
Assessment (VSSA) related to ADS technologies by vehicle manufacturers 
and other entities as described in ADS 2.0. In the section of ADS 2.0 
titled, ``Voluntary Guidance for Automated Driving Systems'' (hereafter 
referred to as ``Voluntary Guidance''), NHTSA recommended that 
manufacturers and other entities assess their ADS-equipped vehicle 
against specific safety elements, summarize that assessment, and then 
voluntarily disclose that summary to the public.\3\ The Voluntary 
Guidance outlines recommended best practices, many of which should be 
commonplace in the industry, for the safe pre-deployment design, 
development, and testing of ADSs prior to commercial sale or operation 
on public roads.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ 49 U.S.C. 30101.
    \3\ https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the 
Information: To assist States and the public in understanding how 
safety is being considered by manufacturers and other entities 
developing and testing ADSs, NHTSA has encouraged disclosures that aid 
in that mission. The burden estimates contained in this notice are 
based on the Agency's understanding of the ADS market and the time 
associated with generating a self-assessment and voluntarily making a 
summary of that self-assessment public. The estimates in this notice 
are adjustments from the previous information collection request (ICR) 
demonstrating a decrease in the burden-hour estimate.
    The manner by which NHTSA encourages ADS manufacturers and other 
entities to disclose information is through a VSSA. The VSSA summarizes 
how the manufacturer or other entity has considered the safety elements 
contained in the Voluntary Guidance as shown below:

 System Safety
 Operational Design Domain
 Object and Event Detection and Response
 Fallback (Minimal Risk Condition)
 Validation Methods
 Human Machine Interface
 Vehicle Cybersecurity
 Crashworthiness
 Post-Crash ADS Behavior
 Data Recording
 Consumer Education and Training
 Federal, State and Local Laws

    The Agency believes the work associated with consideration of the 
safety element in the Voluntary Guidance to be an extension of good and 
safe engineering practices already in place. It therefore believes that 
manufacturers and other entities will have access to all the 
information

[[Page 13604]]

needed to craft a VSSA that discusses how the safety elements were 
considered and, if they choose, release a summary of that assessment 
publicly. Of the manufacturers and other entities who voluntarily 
disclose this information, NHTSA anticipates that most manufacturers 
and other entities will post the VSSAs online. As of December 28, 2020, 
NHTSA was aware of 26 VSSAs, all available online.
    The safety elements are fully described in the Voluntary Guidance 
section (section 1) of ADS 2.0, as is the VSSA. The VSSA (including the 
public release of that summary assessment) is intended to communicate 
to the public (particularly States and consumers) that entities are (1) 
considering the safety aspects of ADSs; (2) communicating and 
collaborating with DOT; (3) encouraging the self-establishment of 
industry safety norms for ADSs; and (4) building public trust, 
acceptance, and confidence through transparent testing and deployment 
of ADSs.
    Affected Public: Entities involved in the testing and deployment of 
ADSs.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.
    Frequency: On Occasion (based on information from the current 
information collection, respondents are expected to respond, on 
average, once every three years).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 12,000 hours.
    NHTSA is using the number of entities that have received permits 
from the State of California as surrogate for the number of respondents 
that may choose to develop and issue a VSSA. As of December 28, 2020, 
California has cumulatively issued permits to 58 entities to test 
Automated Driving Systems with drivers present, five of those entities 
also received permits to test without a driver present, and one entity 
(included on both other lists) has a permit to deploy.\4\ At the onset 
of the current information collection, California had issued permits to 
45 entities as of November 16, 2017, but NHTSA had expected the number 
to grow to 60 entities within the three years of the information 
collection, assuming an addition of new entrants. For that reason, the 
burden hours and cost were calculated based on 60 respondents. NHTSA 
expects the number of potential respondents to remain at approximately 
60 given the coordinated efforts of some companies on the list, the 
departure of some of those entities from the industry (departures were 
not prevalent in 2017 as the industry was new), and accounting for new 
entrants. As a point of reference, since the previous ICR was approved, 
NHTSA is aware of 26 published VSSAs. Given that only 26 VSSAs have 
been published in three years compared to the 58 actively-permitted 
entities in California, NHTSA believes that 60 respondents is an 
appropriate high-end for total respondents. However, based on 
observations of the current information, NHTSA estimates that 
respondents will only produce and disclose a new VSSA once every three 
years. Therefore, NHTSA has revised its burden calculations to reflect 
estimates based on 20 respondents each year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/autonomous-vehicle-testing-permit-holders/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Components of the Voluntary Guidance in ADS 2.0 and public 
disclosure of the VSSA have not changed since release in 2017. NHTSA 
expects the industry burden of addressing safety elements in the 
Voluntary Guidance to be comprised of efforts entities would already 
incur in normal business operation and existing documentation. While 
the previous ICR calculated burden hours associated with a potential 
increase in analysis and review in order to develop the VSSA, NHTSA has 
since determined there to be no increased documentation citing how an 
entity addressed the safety elements in the Voluntary Guidance. NHTSA 
does not believe that any entity is documenting its safety efforts 
solely for the purpose of the VSSA and public disclosure. Therefore, 
NHTSA reduced the estimation of burden hours by 835 burden hours per 
respondent per year from the previous ICR.
    Development and disclosure of a VSSA is expected to involve burden 
for format, content, and summary, varying by safety element. NHTSA 
estimates that each entity will spend approximately 600 hours to 
develop and disseminate a VSSA. This estimate of burden is comprised of 
efforts to transmit information from the existing format (520 hours for 
development) into a summary format that would be consumable by the 
public, including data translation, analysis, and discussion of 
traditionally technical information (80 hours to summarize).
    The total estimated burden hours for a single VSSA is calculated as 
600 hours for each of the 20 respondents. The total burden hours per 
year is estimated at 12,000 hours, a reduction from the 86,100 hours in 
the previous ICR.
    In summary, NHTSA estimates the total burden associated with 
disclosure recommendations via a VSSA would be 600 hours per respondent 
with 20 respondents submitting information each year. The frequency of 
responding is once every three years; therefore, NHTSA estimates there 
will be a total of 60 unique responders over the course of the next 
three years.
    The burden hours associated with development of a VSSA are detailed 
in the tables below.

      Table 1--Burden Hours Estimates for VSSA, per Safety Element
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Burden hours    Burden hours
  Safety element in voluntary guidance       for VSSA        for VSSA
                                            development       summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. System Safety........................              20              10
B. Operational Design Domain............              20               5
C. Object and Event Detection and                     40               5
 Response...............................
D. Fallback.............................              80              10
E. Validation Methods...................              80              10
F. Human Machine Interface..............              20               5
G. Vehicle Cybersecurity................              20               5
H. Crashworthiness......................              20               5
I. Post-Crash ADS Behavior..............              20               5
J. Data Recording.......................              80              10
K. Consumer Education and Training......              40               5

[[Page 13605]]

 
L. Federal, State, and Local Laws.......              80               5
                                         -------------------------------
    Total Burden Hours Per ADS..........             520              80
------------------------------------------------------------------------


               Table 2--Calculation of Annual Burden Hours
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Number of Respondents Annually  20
    Estimated Burden Hours for Voluntary  520 hours
     Assessment Development.
    Estimated Burden Hours for            80 hours
     Summarizing Information.
Total Burden Hours per Respondent.......  600 hours
                                         -------------------------------
    Total Estimated Burden Hours for      12,000 hours
     Industry per Year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    NHTSA estimates the hourly cost associated with preparing VSSAs to 
be $97.36 \5\ per hour using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' mean 
hourly wage estimate for architectural and engineering managers in the 
motor vehicle manufacturing industry (Standard Occupational 
Classification #11-9041). Therefore, the total estimated annual burden 
to each respondent is $58,416 (600 hours x $97.36 = $58,416). 
Therefore, the total estimated labor costs to all respondents to this 
collection is $1,168,320.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ The hourly wage is estimated to be $68.35 per hour. National 
Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates NAICS 
336100--Motor Vehicle Manufacturing, May 2019, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm, last accessed June 30, 2020. The 
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that wages represent 70.2 
percent of total compensation to private workers, on average. 
Therefore, NHTSA estimates the total hourly compensation cost to be 
$97.36.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: NHTSA does not anticipate any 
further burden to respondents beyond the labor costs associated with 
the burden hours.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.

Cem Hatipoglu,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2021-04877 Filed 3-8-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P