Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Senator Peters Pushes Nominee On Cuts To DoT Agency Regulating Self-Driving Vehicles

Transcript

Senator Peters Pushes Nominee On Cuts To DoT Agency Regulating Self-Driving Vehicles · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads, the Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The
• 0:11
  Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
• 0:16
  Morrison, congratulations on your nomination to serve as the
• 0:20
  administrator of the top auto safety regulator here in the
• 0:23
  country. As a as a center from Michigan
• 0:25
  and the chair of the ranking member of the Surface
• 0:29
  Transportation Subcommittee, 2 of my top priorities are saving
• 0:33
  lives on our roadways and making sure the automotive industry has
• 0:36
  the regulatory certainty that it needs to continue to innovate
• 0:40
  and to compete on a global scale, helping us to reach those
• 0:44
  security goals. So my question for you Sir is
• 0:49
  NITSA as you know plays a key role in ensuring that NITSA
• 0:51
  certified vehicles are recognized and accepted in other
• 0:55
  markets, which is critical to the American auto
• 0:59
  competitiveness of our industry. So my question is, if confirmed,
• 1:04
  will you ensure that NITSA strongly supports the mission
• 1:06
  including harmonization efforts and leadership in global
• 1:10
  regulatory bodies to prevent non tariff barriers on American
• 1:14
  autos? Yeah, it's, it's an important
• 1:16
  part of this is missions working with the other countries on, on
• 1:19
  trying to create global technical regulations and
• 1:23
  they're very active in that. And that is something I look
• 1:24
  forward to continue to work. On very good, I was encouraged
• 1:28
  to see Nitsa's recent announcement that it will pursue
• 1:30
  A regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles that
• 1:34
  includes objective testing standards and rulemaking.
• 1:38
  However, I'm concerned by the reports that as much as over
• 1:41
  half of the Office of Automation Safety, which I push the fund,
• 1:45
  has been terminated in has been terminated in staffing cuts.
• 1:51
  Basically at NITSA, this office will be responsible for carrying
• 1:55
  out rulemaking efforts related to autonomous vehicles and other
• 1:59
  safety technologies, which experts tell us.
• 2:02
  We'll take a high level of technicality and expertise, not
• 2:05
  to mention manpower to figure all of this out.
• 2:08
  So I have a couple questions for you.
• 2:10
  First off, can you commit to fully staffing offices like the
• 2:13
  Office of Automation Safety to ensure that they can competently
• 2:18
  and successfully carry out rulemakings relative to a VS and
• 2:22
  other cutting edge technologies? I've seen media reports, I'm I'm
• 2:27
  not in the building now, but have seen media reports about
• 2:30
  staffing. I think a lot of people may have
• 2:32
  left pursuant to a deferred resignation program, but I know
• 2:36
  Secretary Duffy has mentioned a number of times that where there
• 2:39
  are gaps that need to be filled, particularly to achieve
• 2:42
  priorities, we will fill. Those so you will be committed
• 2:45
  to fully staffing. You're giving me that?
• 2:46
  Commitment, yeah, I will be committed to looking to higher
• 2:49
  up to make sure that we can achieve those goals.
• 2:51
  Based on your experience at NIPSA, do you believe the agency
• 2:53
  can carry out multiple rulemakings related to
• 2:56
  autonomous vehicles and make needed progress on the over one
• 3:00
  dozen overdue rulemakings mandated by Congress if it faces
• 3:06
  significant personnel cuts? I, I again, I'm, I'm not there
• 3:11
  now, I don't know how the staffing is allocated, but I
• 3:14
  will commit to looking to make sure that we have adequate
• 3:17
  manpower to complete our mission.
• 3:21
  What what actions do you believe are necessary to ensure
• 3:24
  deployment of autonomous vehicles is safe, transparent,
• 3:27
  while also ensuring that the United States is at the
• 3:30
  forefront of innovation? Please tell me kind of your
• 3:33
  thoughts about what we need to do.
• 3:35
  I, I think first and foremost, we need federal leadership in
• 3:37
  this space. And, and that involves, I think
• 3:40
  in, in large part using the convening authority of the
• 3:43
  federal government, meeting with the developers, meeting with
• 3:46
  technical safety experts to understand the, the state of the
• 3:50
  technology now, the development pathways that various entities
• 3:54
  have been pursuing and making sure that the industry
• 3:57
  understands what the agency believes are the appropriate
• 4:00
  paths forward. I think getting that
• 4:02
  understanding with industry, having the industry, gaining an
• 4:06
  understanding of the agency's perspective, I think that's
• 4:09
  something I may have been lacking.
• 4:10
  And that's, that's a major gap I look to fill.
• 4:13
  And that's going to involve guidance.
• 4:15
  And as I mentioned in my testimony, yes, it will involve
• 4:18
  regulation once that's ready. What specific risk do you see to
• 4:23
  the United States if we do not remain at the forefront of AV
• 4:27
  innovation, especially with China's major strides in this
• 4:31
  area? As you're probably well aware,
• 4:33
  they're investing massive amounts of money and believe
• 4:35
  this is the future of transportation.
• 4:40
  What are your concerns related to the?
• 4:41
  My concerns is that we have a, a, a foreign adversary of, of
• 4:46
  this country who is investing incredible amounts of resources
• 4:50
  into this industry and they're looking to push things forward.
• 4:55
  From what I've heard, I'm not over there.
• 4:56
  I've heard that some of the developmental pathways that
• 4:58
  they're approaching are not as robust as the industry is used
• 5:02
  to. That's something that gives me
• 5:03
  positive to be concerned. But if they win that
• 5:06
  technological race, they will be the ones that are sending
• 5:09
  setting these global standards and their technology would be
• 5:12
  that that's deployed around the world and that's something we
• 5:14
  can't have. Sir Robert, the the Commerce
• 5:18
  Committee is now actively working on a pipeline safety
• 5:21
  reauthorization effort. As you know, in the a little
• 5:24
  over time, but perhaps as quickly as you can, if you could
• 5:27
  just give the committee what's, what's kind of top of mind to
• 5:31
  you as the top issues that this bill needs to address.
• 5:36
  Well, certainly from the last three authorizations, there is a
• 5:39
  number number of outstanding mandates.
• 5:41
  I think that's a high priority to complete mandates.
• 5:45
  Looking forward, you know, not being at the agency yet, I hope
• 5:50
  to engage with your Staffs and your offices to come to some
• 5:56
  conclusions on what would be best in that authorization.
• 5:59
  Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
• 6:01
  I really do appreciate your support.
• 6:03
  If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow
• 6:06
  button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening
• 6:08
  on right now, I greatly appreciate it.
• 6:11
  It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never
• 6:13
  miss an episode. And each episode is about 10
• 6:16
  minutes or less to get you caught up quickly.
• 6:19
  And please, if you want to support the show even more, go
• 6:22
  to patreon.com/stage Zero. And please take care of
• 6:27
  yourselves and each other. And I'll see you tomorrow.