Ford, Google Form Autonomous Vehicle Advocacy Group
Google, Ford, Volvo, Uber and Lyft form the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets to push for federal standards for self-driving vehicles.

Photo of self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrid courtesy of Ford.

Photo of self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrid courtesy of Ford.
Google, Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Cars have formed a coalition, along with ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft, to represent the interests of self-driving technology companies in regulatory matters, the Detroit News reported.
The new advocacy group has been dubbed the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. David Strickland, a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will serve as the organization’s counsel and spokesman.
“The best path for this innovation is to have one clear set of federal standards and the Coalition will work with policymakers to find the right solutions that will facilitate the deployment of self-driving vehicles,” Strickland said in the statement.
On April 27, NHTSA will hold a public hearing at Stanford University in California, seeking input on future operational guidelines for the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles.
“Of high importance to the agency is information on the roadway scenarios and operational environments that highly automated vehicles will need to address, and the associated design and evaluation processes and methods needed to ensure that AV [automated vehicle] systems are able to detect and appropriately react to these scenarios,” NHTSA said in an announcement about the meeting.
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