During a Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) spoke about staffing cuts to the Office of Automation Safety.
00:04Mr. Morrison, congratulations on your nomination to serve as the administrator of the top auto safety regulator here in the country.
00:12As a senator from Michigan and a ranking member of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee,
00:19two of my top priorities are saving lives on our roadways and making sure the automotive industry has the regulatory certainty
00:26that it needs to continue to innovate and to compete on a global scale, helping us to reach those security goals.
00:34So my question for you, sir, is NHTSA, as you know, plays a key role in ensuring that NHTSA-certified vehicles are recognized and accepted in other markets,
00:45which is critical to the American auto competitiveness of our industry.
00:50So my question is, if confirmed, will you ensure that NHTSA strongly supports the mission, including harmonization efforts and leadership in global regulatory bodies
00:59to prevent non-tariff barriers on American autos?
01:03Yeah, it's an important part of NHTSA's mission, working with the other countries on trying to create global technical regulations,
01:10and they're very active in that, and that is something I look forward to continue to work on.
01:14Very good.
01:15I was encouraged to see NHTSA's recent announcement that it will pursue a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles that includes objective testing standards and rulemaking.
01:26However, I'm concerned by the reports that as much as over half of the Office of Automation Safety, which I pushed to fund,
01:34has been terminated in staffing cuts, basically, at NHTSA.
01:41This office will be responsible for carrying out rulemaking efforts related to autonomous vehicles and other safety technologies,
01:48which experts tell us will take a high level of technicality and expertise, not to mention manpower, to figure all of this out.
01:56So I have a couple questions for you.
01:58First off, can you commit to fully staffing offices like the Office of Automation Safety to ensure that they can competently and successfully carry out rulemakings relative to AAVs and other cutting-edge technologies?
02:13I've seen media reports. I'm not in the building now, but I have seen media reports about staffing.
02:19I think a lot of people may have left pursuant to a deferred resignation program.
02:24But I know Secretary Duffy has mentioned a number of times that where there are gaps that need to be filled, particularly to achieve priorities, we will fill those gaps.
02:32So you will be committed to fully staffing it? You're giving me that commitment?
02:35Yeah, I will be committed to looking to higher up to make sure that we can achieve those goals.
02:39Based on your experience at NHTSA, do you believe the agency can carry out multiple rulemakings related to autonomous vehicles and make needed progress on the over one dozen overdue rulemakings mandated by Congress if it faces significant personnel cuts?
02:56Again, I'm not there now. I don't know how the staffing is allocated, but I will commit to looking to make sure that we have adequate manpower to complete our mission.
03:08What actions do you believe are necessary to ensure deployment of autonomous vehicles is safe, transparent, while also ensuring that the United States is at the forefront of innovation?
03:20Please tell me kind of your thoughts about what we need to do.
03:23I think first and foremost we need federal leadership in this space, and that involves, I think, in large part using the convening authority of the federal government,
03:32meeting with the developers, meeting with technical safety experts to understand the state of the technology now, the development pathways that various entities have been pursuing,
03:43and making sure that the industry understands what the agency believes are the appropriate paths forward.
03:49I think getting that understanding with industry, having the industry gaining an understanding of the agency's perspective, I think that's something that may have been lacking, and that's a major gap I look to fill.
04:01And that's going to involve guidance, and as I mentioned in my testimony, yes, it will involve regulation once that's ready.
04:08What specific risks do you see to the United States if we do not remain at the forefront of AV innovation, especially with China's major strides in this area?
04:20As you're probably well aware, they're investing massive amounts of money and believe this is the future of transportation.
04:27What are your concerns related to that?
04:30My concern is that we have a foreign adversary of this country who is investing incredible amounts of resources into this industry, and they're looking to push things forward.
04:43From what I've heard, I'm not over there, I've heard that some of the developmental pathways that they're approaching are not as robust as the industry is used to.
04:51It's something that gives me pause, it gives me concern, but if they win that technological race, they will be the ones that are setting these global standards, and their technology will be that that's deployed around the world, and that's something we can't have.
05:04Mr. Roberti, the Commerce Committee is now actively working on a pipeline safety reauthorization effort, as you know.
05:12A little over time, but perhaps as quickly as you can, if you could just give the committee what's kind of top of mind to you as the top issues that this bill needs to address.
05:25Well, certainly from the last reauthorization, there's a number of outstanding mandates.
05:30I think that's a high priority to complete mandates.
05:33Looking forward, you know, not being at the agency yet, I hope to engage with your staffs and your offices to come to some conclusions on what would be best in that authorization.
