General Motors CEO Mary Barra met with two prominent senators on Thursday to discuss the company’s push for legislation that would accelerate the deployment of self-driving vehicles on U.S. roads. Barra had a meeting with Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell and Senator Gary Peters, a fellow Democrat and Commerce Committee member, as confirmed by the company.
The U.S. Congress has been stalled for over six years regarding legislation that would make it easier to deploy thousands of autonomous vehicles by easing regulations. Peters, who represents Michigan where GM is headquartered, said, “We must act to ensure U.S. manufacturers can compete with countries like China, create jobs here, and improve roadway safety.” He added that Barra discussed “the future of mobility–including autonomous vehicles” with the lawmakers.
GM and its self-driving technology unit, Cruise, petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in February 2022 to allow them to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually without steering wheels, mirrors, turn signals, or windshield wipers.
GM aims to deploy its Origin vehicle, which features subway-like doors and no steering wheels. Passengers will be required to fasten seat belts before riding in autonomous vehicles, according to GM. In July, the NHTSA opened the petition for public comment but has not acted on it.
In 2017, the House of Representatives passed legislation by voice vote to speed up the adoption of self-driving cars, prevent states from setting performance standards, and expand the number of vehicles that could be deployed with exemptions, but the U.S. Senate never passed the bill.
Cruise called on President Joe Biden to support self-driving car legislation in 2021, warning that the country risked falling behind China. In December, the NHTSA opened a safety investigation into the autonomous driving system in Cruise vehicles following reports of two injuries in rear-end crashes.
See also: GMâs Cruise Reaches One Million Miles with Fully Driverless Vehicles
The NHTSA said it received notices of incidents in which self-driving Cruise vehicles “may engage in inappropriately hard braking or become immobilized.” Cruise stated in December that it was cooperating with the investigation and that it had “driven nearly 700,000 fully autonomous miles in an extremely complex urban environment with zero life-threatening injuries or fatalities.”
