Aurora is suing the feds over safety rules as it nears the launch of a self-driving truck

Aurora Innovation He takes federal safety regulators to court in case This could have far-reaching implications for self-driving truck companies that operate in a regulatory environment designed specifically for humans.

The battle centers around the fairly common practice of placing physical warning triangles around semi-trucks parked along highways. The court denied Aurora’s request to be exempt from this safety requirement. Aurora, which is planning to launch The commercial trucking process is completely autonomous In April, she turned to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to get regulators to give the green light to exempt her.

The move highlights a long-standing tension between self-driving car companies seeking to commercialize the technology and their safety standards designed for humans.

Here’s what happens in a world where humans drive trucks: Truck drivers activate their hazards and have 10 minutes to place reflective safety triangles as a warning to other road users. The first triangle is located 10 feet behind the truck facing oncoming traffic. The second goes 100 feet behind the truck. The third is 100 feet ahead of the truck or 100 feet behind the truck but off center. The driver may adjust these modes if the truck is stopped on a curve or blind spot.

In a world where artificial intelligence drives trucks, there’s no one around to turn off the warning lights. The autonomous vehicle industry, led by Aurora Innovation and Waymo, filed an application in January 2023 that would allow it and other autonomous vehicle companies to install flashing warning beacons on truck cabs instead.

(Note: Waymo placed the order with Aurora back when it still had an active autonomous trucking unit. Waymo shifted focus away from Self-driving trucks in June 2023and is not active in this battle.)

Nearly two years later, the Federal Motor Vehicle Transportation Safety Administration denied the application, stating that the solution did not provide an equal or greater level of safety than current requirements. In its rejection, the agency cited findings from limited studies conducted by Aurora and Waymo, which show that the proposed beacons actually performed worse than warning triangles in several key scenarios, including when a truck stopped at a curve.

The FMCSA also suggested that cab-mounted signals have another disadvantage, which is that drivers may see the back of a stopped truck before they see the signals.

Autonomous vehicle industry stakeholders, including the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association and Aurora, have called the agency’s 52-year-old safety requirements outdated. Melissa Wade, senior director of government relations, noted that the FMCSA has not provided data to support its safety claims about the physical triangles. She also said the agency has not provided guidance on what they would like to see in a spacecraft-friendly replacement for safety triangles.

The request was supported by other AV companies such as Waabi and Kodiak Robotics, the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Consumer Technology Association, among others. It was opposed by organizations such as the Independent Owner-Operator Drivers Association, the American Transport Workers Federation, and the Truck Safety Alliance.

The dispute over warning devices and where and how to place them is one of many regulatory hurdles that self-driving car companies must overcome in order to remain compliant with federal safety standards, many of which are designed for human manual control. For example, today, AV companies need to request an exemption To deploy and produce vehicles built without things like steering wheels or pedals, though Tesla CEO Elon Musk has urged the incoming Trump administration to get rid of these rules as he hopes to deploy a large fleet of such robots in the coming years.

Aurora also appears to be hoping that the Trump administration will be more favorable to the autonomous vehicle industry. At least, that’s the sentiment portrayed recently Blog post From Aurora President Ossa Fisher who refers to “passionate, hard-working transportation leaders who are ready to support innovation and save lives.”

Angie Griffin, a 17-year-old truck driver and host of the show YouTube channel With her husband about the trucking lifestyle, she told TechCrunch that she believes regulations on the required distance between safety triangles are appropriate because “vehicles are passing and coming at you at a rate of speed that makes early detection better.”

She said that to accommodate self-driving trucks, the best solution would be to place warning lights on the truck’s trailer, not just on the cab.

Aurora, like other AV players, doesn’t have its own trailers; They operate by delivering customers’ trailers, which is standard in the trucking industry. Requiring carrier customers to outfit their trailers with warning lights would derail AV companies’ plans to access the existing system with minimal disruption, but it may be necessary from a safety standpoint.

“You’d be surprised, especially in a place like Texas, where it’s pitch dark, there’s no ambient light, there’s no light pollution, in the middle of the desert, how much a 53-foot trailer can hide on the shoulder, and you never see it until you drive past it,” Griffin said. “If you get to the end of the semi-final, you probably won’t survive, even if you’re in another semi. So why take the chance?