During his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced he intended to make a large investment in a "21st century transportation system." On January 14, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx revealed just how big an investment the Commander-in-Chief was talking about.
Foxx said at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit that President Obama's goal is to spend $4 billion on a 10-year project that will, among other things, provide funding to get autonomous vehicles on American roads faster. The government also intends to work with automakers and begin making more safety features standard on every make and model.
This pact has been dubbed an "industry-government consortium." It will consist of the "Big Three" Detroit auto makers, as well as foreign-owned brands like Daimler, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai. The objective of this agreement is to put safety advancements into cars and trucks at a faster pace than if they had been implemented through traditional rule-making processes. Over 32,000 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2014. Mark Rosekind, Head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), recently set a goal of zero fatalities and Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson has done the same. The Swedish auto maker hopes to achieve this benchmark by 2020.
One of the greatest automotive safety advancements in recent years has been the emergency auto-braking system. Heralded by many in the industry as the biggest development since the seat belt, the auto-braking system goes a step beyond by helping to eliminate crashes altogether. This system has long been an option on higher-end models, but last fall Audi, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo all announced the system will be standard on every model they sell. These ten brands "account for over half the new vehicles sold in the US," according to CNN.
The other major way that the consortium will attempt to reduce accidents is by completely removing the human element from driving. Per the NHTSA's website, "within six months, NHTSA will work with (the) industry... to develop guidance on the safe deployment and operation of autonomous vehicles." The site also says that "(the) DoT and NHTSA will develop the new tools necessary... to ensure that fully autonomous vehicles, including those designed without a human driver in mind, (can be deployed) in large numbers when they are demonstrated to provide an equivalent or higher level of safety than is now available."