AV 3.0 Sets Path For Streamlined Regulatory Process For Autonomous Vehicles

After months of preparation, the U.S. Department of Transportation ("USDOT") has released the third iteration of its informal guidance on the development and deployment of highly automated vehicles ("HAVs"). Known as "Automated Vehicles 3.0 - Preparing for the Future of Transportation," the document breaks new ground by setting out a vision for streamlining regulatory processes across agencies within the USDOT and establishing a national pilot program for automated technologies in different modalities of transportation.

AV 3.0 builds on the direction of "Federal Automated Vehicle Policy 2.0" ("FAVP 2.0") in seeking to resolve confusion about the legal significance of the document. In its latest version, the informal guidance moves away from the nomenclature championed by the Obama Administration in which the guidance was referred to as "policy," which created the impression that the guidance was compulsory.