A new report is looking at the future of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in New Zealand and says now is the time to start looking at laws and regulations before it’s too late.
The white paper, titled The Driverless Revolution: What Next?, written by Mitchell Gingrich and Steven Moe, looks at what is changing in the area of autonomous vehicles and asks what can be done to prepare for that.
It concludes with eight key recommendations in the area of regulatory compliance and suggests New Zealand has the chance to be “world-leading” in its adoption of AVs and show other countries the way forward.
“With change, there is always opportunity.
In our view, this opportunity is to offer New Zealand a way to smooth out the legal bumps in the road for AVs and deliver a regulatory framework, which not only is coherent but also technologically savvy – combining law and AV technology.
“Whether delivering people or products, AVs must be safe for all users of public spaces,” it says.
Recommendations include:
- A full-fledged permitting process allowing companies to test AVs on the public roads in a limited manner, such as a geo-fenced area.
- Upgrading New Zealand motor vehicle standards so that AVs are in compliance.
For example, regulations permitting a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals for a human driver.
These upgraded standards should also reflect the adoption of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) taxonomy for levels of vehicle autonomy.
- Establishing an AV agency under the authority of the Ministry of Transport/NZTA to provide oversight concerning regulatory framework and approvals for AV certification and testing.
- Updating street signs, pedestrian walkways, cycle lanes, lane markings, and footpaths.
- Establishing “autonomy zones” where geo-fenced AVs may operate for testing, initially, and then full-fledged operations.
- Address privacy and carefully navigate the concerns of AV users and all users of the public roads as tremendous amounts of data will be stored by the AV owner/operators.
- Clarify legal liability and update New Zealand law to address the liability for an AV accident.
- For fully autonomous Level 5 AVs, the need to consider whether these may be owned or operated by individual owners or only by fleet operators, public road testing standards, software standards, vehicle and computer hardware maintenance standards, testing simulation standards, reporting requirements for AV owner/operators, IT security standards, privacy standards, post-incident data sharing requirements, initial registration and on-going certification process for AV safety drivers, initial registration and on-going certification process for those remotely observing and operating the AVs.
Gingrich, who now lives in Christchurch, previously worked for Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) as a test pilot in the AV programme from 2017 to 2018.
The work required him to collect data and contribute to the deployment of software updates as part of the autonomous fleet of more than 200 Volvo XC90 vehicles.
By December 22, 2017, Uber announced it had completed 3.2 million kilometres in automated mode testing.
However, on March 18, 2018, the trial came to an end when Elaine Herzberg became the first pedestrian to be killed by a self-driving car that was taking part in the programme.
Herzberg was struck by an auto-piloted car with a single operator while walking outside of a pedestrian crossing.
The incident made headlines around the world and the Tempe Police Department produced a 300-page report on the accident while the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) produced hundreds of pages supporting the findings.
The NTSB said that the immediate cause of the collision was the failure of the Uber ATG operator to closely monitor the road and the operation of the automated driving system because the operator was visually distracted throughout the trip by a personal cell phone.
Furthermore, it says Uber ATG had inadequate safety risk assessment procedures, ineffective oversight of the vehicle operators and a lack of adequate mechanisms for addressing operators’ automation complacency.
“Safety starts at the top,” NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt says.
“The collision was the last link of a long chain of actions and decisions made by an organisation that unfortunately did not make safety the top priority.”
Gingrich says the accident was “preventable” and that avoiding such events requires “foresight, regulatory input and guidance, thoughtful planning and placing safety as the paramount purpose for any transportation project conducted on public streets”.
He says the accident also serves as a reminder for how important it is to get the laws and regulatory compliance in check before we have fleets of AVs on our local roads.
He concedes that the Uber ATG programme was “basically a science experiment on public roads” and this is the challenge that needs to be faced as the technology begins to roll out around the world.
“The reports from the NTSB and the Tempe Police Department reflect the considered opinions of experts in evaluating transportation accidents and certain aspects of their reports remain under consideration, such as whether the AV driver could or should be charged criminally for reportedly paying more attention to her smartphone than the road,” Gingrich says in the report.
In 2015, Arizona had no regulatory scheme permitting AVs to operate on its public roads and the Arizona Department of Transportation announced that the absence of regulations incentivised AV testing.
“Uber ATG’s fatal accident, however, has not deterred other states from aggressively pursuing the AV dream.
“A thorough and well-reasoned regulatory framework permitting AVs to operate on the public roads in New Zealand creates a stronger likelihood of preventing AVs, aka, the ‘robot cars’, from striking pedestrians or inflicting harm on the public roads,” he says.
Gingrich, who also has a law background, has now launched a consulting business with the aim of assisting the government and industry in developing policies relating to the testing and use of autonomous vehicles in public areas.
Co-author Steven Moe is also based in Christchurch and is a partner at Parry Field Lawyers and host of the theseeds.nz podcast.
He works across the country to help establish and provide advice to companies, investors, social enterprises and not for profits.
NZ working towards AV framework
The Ministry of Transport says it is working closely with NZ Transport Agency to “understand the potential new road safety risks AVs could introduce to the transport system (such as hardware and software failures, malicious hacking, and increased risk-taking)”.
“The Ministry also seeks to understand how new technologies contribute to transport outcomes.
This includes considering how new technologies can influence travel choices, impact congestion, reduce the road toll, improve access, reduce emissions, and improve the liveability of our cities.”
“The Ministry needs to understand what an effective regulatory framework looks like, including the level of risk tolerance we are willing to accept; the balance of flexibility in the system versus certainty for users; and the expertise, resources, and systems needed to administer it.
“New Zealand’s current regulatory framework for vehicles is based on prescriptive vehicle standards and detailed driver licensing requirements.
Vehicle standards have been developed gradually over several decades, and are largely based on the assumption that vehicles will look and operate in similar ways as they have done in the past.
“Driver licensing also becomes less important (and manufacturer licensing more important) as vehicles become highly and fully automated.
Both of these aspects are challenged by new vehicle technologies, which place a greater reliance on software [and software updates], and p
lace fewer duties and demands on the driver,” the transport ministry says.
“How AVs are deployed into the New Zealand market will also influence the level of regulatory change required.
If AVs are owned by companies who deploy them as fleets of self-driving vehicles, then regulation could potentially be simpler, as it will follow many of the existing legislative requirements business owners already have.
“If AVs are deployed and sold to individuals for private use, there may be the need to revise existing legislation, especially rules around liability.
Nevertheless, there will still be a need to review and assess existing legislation with the new requirements AVs present, and to incorporate new legislation to address risks not covered in existing legislation,” it says.
