The chief executive of Cruise, Dan Ammann, in a letter to
Biden dated May 17, asked him to back legislation raising the cap on the number
of vehicles that a company can seek to have exempted from safety standards that
do not meet existing federal requirements that assume human drivers are in
control.
The cap, Ammann wrote, "acts as a U.S.-only impediment
to building these vehicles at scale in the United States." Cruise provided
a copy of the letter to Reuters.
"China’s top down, centrally directed approach imposes
no similar restraints on their home grown AV industry," Ammann wrote.
"We do not seek, require or desire government funding; we seek your help
in leveling the playing field," he said, citing research that AVs are
"estimated to create and sustain 108,000 jobs over the next five
years."
The White House declined to comment on Monday.
Senators John Thune and Gary Peters have been working for
several years on efforts to ease restrictions on AVs. An amendment to a bill
designed to address U.S. competitiveness against China proposed by Thune to
raise the cap stalled last week amid opposition from labor unions and
plaintiffs attorneys, but Thune and Peters are expected to continue to pursue
the issue.
Thune and Peters in April circulated language for potential
legislation to grant the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the
power to lift the cap and initially exempt 15,000 self-driving vehicles per
manufacturer, rising to 80,000 within three years. The NHTSA would need to
certify self-driving vehicles exempted are at least as safe as human-driven
ones.
Ammann, in his letter to Biden, said that "without your
support and congressional action to revise these self imposed barriers, the
U.S. AV manufacturing industry will lag, AI development will stall, and our
foreign competitors will race ahead."
The auto industry, Alphabet Inc's Waymo and others have been
pushing for years to convince Congress to speed self-driving vehicle
deployment.
Reuters reported May 11 that Waymo and California-based
Cruise have applied for permits needed to start charging for rides and delivery
using autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, citing state documents.
In October, Cruise said it planned to seek NHTSA approval to
deploy a limited number of Cruise Origin vehicles without steering wheels or
pedals. The Origin, which was developed with GM and Cruise investor Honda
Motor, has two long seats facing each other that can comfortably fit four
passengers. Production is expected to begin in early 2023.