BILL NUMBER: S7956

SPONSOR: HARCKHAM
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to requiring
human safety operators for certain autonomous vehicles

 
PURPOSE:

Requires a licensed driver to be present inside of operating autonomous
vehicles weighing ten thousand one pounds or more.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the vehicle and traffic law to add a new section 393-b
requiring a human safety operator, a natural person holding a valid
motor vehicle license, to be present inside an autonomous vehicle weigh-
ing ten thousand one pounds or more.

Section 2 states the effective date with required conditions.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Vehicles on the road across the world are increasingly becoming autono-
mous.1 The vehicle and traffic law of New York presently has no require-
ments for the heaviest vehicles, such as semi-trucks or city buses, to
have .a human being in the cab, capable of taking control of the vehicle
in case of emergency. Without stifling the progress of the transporta-
tion and freight industries, this bill seeks to remedy two core
concerns: threats to safety and employment.

Passenger vehicles from a variety of manufacturers utilizing driver-as-
sist or "full self-driving" systems have been involved in hundreds of
traffic accidents, some fatal.2 The potential for injury and death grows
exponentially in such instances when the vehicle has the enormously
greater mass, inertia, and force of a semi-truck or city bus compared to
a passenger vehicle. Further, automation threatens the livelihood of
nearly 80,000 New Yorkers driving tractor-trailer trucks and buses.3
Requiring autonomous vehicles weighing ten thousand one pounds or more
to have a licensed driver behind the wheel ensures greater safety for
citizens and property while providing job security for one in twenty-
five New Yorkers.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: Died in Transportation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect upon the adoption by the state of a law
permitting the operation of motor vehicles utilizing autonomous vehicle
technology on public highways without requiring a natural person holding
a valid license for the operation of the motor vehicle's class to be
present within such vehicle; provided that the commissioner of motor
vehicles shall notify the legislative bill drafting commission upon the
occurrence of the enactment of such state law in order that the commis-
sion may maintain an accurate and timely effective data base of the
official text of the laws of the state of New York in furtherance of
effecting the provisions of section 44 of the legislative law and
section 70-b of the public officers law.
1 Precedence Research, Autonomous Vehicle Market,
https://www.precedenceresearch.com/autonomous-vehicle-
market#:~:text=The%global%20
autonomous%2Ovehic10/020market,USD%2036.4%20billion/020in%202022.
2 Associated Press, Nearly 400 car crashes in 11 months involved in
automated tech, companies tell regulators, NAT'L. PUB. RADIO (June 15,
2022)
https://www.npr.ora/2022/06/15/1105252793/neady-400-car-crashes-in-
11-months-involved-automated-tech-companies-tell-regul
3 US BUREAU OF LABOR STATS., Occupational Employment Wage Statistics.
Truck Drivers: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes533032.htm; Bus Driv-
ers: https://www.bls.govices/currentioes533052.htm.