New DOT panel to focus on deploying automation in transportation

It adds that members of underrepresented groups will be included “to ensure that the recommendations of the committee have considered the needs of diverse groups served by the department.”

Information on requirements for potential members and the nomination process were detailed in a separate public notice.

The charter says the committee will advise and recommend to the DOT secretary “needs, objectives, plans, and approaches for multimodal transportation innovation,” with a focus on:

• Safe, secure, equitable, environmentally friendly and accessible deployments of emerging technologies.
• Ways to promote greater cross-modal integration of emerging technologies, in particular applications to deploy automation.
• Policies that encourage innovation to grow and support a safe and productive U.S. workforce, as well as foster economic competitiveness and job quality.
• Approaches that encourage the secure exchange of transformative transportation data, including technologies and infrastructure, across the public and private sectors that can guide DOT policy decisions.
• Ways the department can elevate cybersecurity solutions and protect privacy across transportation systems and infrastructure.

DOT was not immediately available to comment on how much focus will be on trucking and other freight transportation modes.

The department released a preliminary study in January 2021 assessing the effect automated driving technologies would have on the truck driver workforce. The report, created at the request of Congress, found there is “vast uncertainty” about how and when such automation may be adopted in long-haul trucking and the associated effects on professional drivers.

During a hearing held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee on Tuesday, Buttigieg was asked about restrictions on using federal dollars for automation at the ports.

“There’s a lot of difference of opinion, and difference in the research, on where automation in fact yields productivity increases and where it doesn’t, and there’s quite a bit of skepticism about how that could work in the U.S., Buttigieg said.

“That said, there are so many things that we can invest in and are investing in that unquestionably will benefit the efficiency and throughput at the ports,” including $52 million in port grants to extend on-dock rail at the Port of Long Beach, he added.

Related articles:

• C-suite revolving door: Is self-driving safety at risk?
• FMCSA chief Joshi: Drivers will take hit from automated trucks
• Maritime regulators to weigh opposing views on port automation

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.