Editor’s Note: A discussion of certain aspects NHSTA’s cybersecurity regulatory duties is available on CircleID here.
From: Politico
By TONY ROMM
LAS VEGAS — Some of the Audi and BMW supercars on display here at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show don’t need a driver to navigate busy highways and city streets.
But Washington is ready to reach for the wheel, anyway.
This year’s tech trade show is rife with carmakers that eagerly await the day when their vehicles can connect with each other, interact with roads and stoplights and, yes, make entire trips without a driver touching the wheel. But even the most distant future visions for transportation have highlighted early fears about safety and security among Beltway regulators in attendance.
On one hand, David Strickland, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Tuesday that regulators want to get out of the way of innovation. But, while flanked by automotive and tech leaders, his message was clear: Safety has to be “the No. 1 priority.”
“I will tell you from the part of the agency NHTSA, as a safety regulator, and there are other regulatory bodies … we have only one chance to get this right,” said the soon-to-depart chief. Citing the need to protect travelers — both from physical dangers and new privacy threats — he said both industry and government “have to make sure we have the trust of the American people.”
Connected cars no longer seem the stuff of science fiction. Technology companies realize the next great market to peddle their wares might be the car dashboard — and carmakers, eager to sell more vehicles, increasingly see plenty of business opportunities in upgrading their wheels for the digital age. The Consumer Electronics Association’s own estimates figure $11 billion in sales of factory-installed in-car tech — a 20 percent increase from a year earlier.
The advancement has not gone unnoticed back in Washington. Tech use in cars — from dashboard consoles to smartphones — already had the Department of Transportation working closely on new distracted driving rules, for example. On-board computers also have raised a number of privacy concerns about how much information cars collect about their drivers and what’s done with it. In fact, a report released Monday from the Government Accountability Office found sweeping disparities in how automakers collect and use location data — and inconsistent deletion policies. And there’s no shortage of legal issues around driverless vehicles — from where they can be used to who’s responsible in the event of an accident.
All of those developments, however, have brought a debate that’s far more analog than the cars it concerns: Regulators want checks, companies want to avoid any new responsibilities — and both are in a race over regulation.
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