(Source: MIRS.news, Published Sept. 13, 2022) As excitement and investments concerning driverless cars builds in Michigan, one bill is barring local governments from regulating or charging certain fees on these vehicles in their neighborhoods.
At Tuesday morning's House Transportation Committee hearing – one of two legislative committees scheduled this week – Rep. Mike Harris (R-Clarkston)'s
HB 6369 took center stage.
"The bill ensures that entities operating (autonomous vehicles (AVs)) in Michigan will continue to be able to operate statewide under a common regulatory framework rather than potentially comply with a patchwork of local regulation," said Katie Marshall of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association.
She said that while AVs offer "great opportunities, a framework that enables seamless, statewide operation is necessary to realize these benefits."
HB 6369 deals with on-demand automated motor vehicle networks -- a digital network connected through a software application that links riders to automated motor vehicles in a participating fleet.
The fleet could include programs associated with the recently signed Public Act 179 0f 2022, authorizing the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the state labor department's Office of Future Mobility and Electrification to work collaboratively with the private sector to establish automated vehicle roadway technology in Michigan.
Ultimately, through the new law, MDOT is able to designate a segment of roadway within its jurisdiction as an assigned automated vehicle roadway.
"This bill simply extends the sunset that prohibits the regulation of charging fees for on-demand autonomous vehicle networks by local governments," Harris said. "Currently the sunset's due to expire at the end of the year, my bill would extend the sunset (by) an additional five years."
The new expiration date for the ban would be Dec. 31, 2027. Harris said the legislation "would make sure that we don't have a local patchwork of regulations."
At the committee hearing, Paul Corbett of MICHauto – a network of more than 100 investor companies throughout the automobility industry – said allowing the present-day sunset date to fall as is "would send the exact wrong signal."
"What was a smooth and predictable path for autonomous mobility innovators in Michigan may become an inevitable morass of different rules in every municipality across the state," Corbett told the committee.
In 2014, after the initial legislation concerning driverless vehicles was passed in Lansing, MDOT partnered with General Motors Co. and the Ford Motor Co., as well as the University of Michigan, to deploy the country's first smart highway for exploring the potential of autonomous vehicles.
More recently, it was reported today that the National Science Foundation will be providing the University of Michigan's Mcity self-driving car test site with $5.1 million. The funding will be used to allow other researchers from across the United States to submit algorithms and programs and remotely participate in studies.
"At MICHauto, we count among our members several startup companies that came from out of state because they knew Michigan had signaled that it was open for AV business," Corbett said. "They also tell us that nothing stymies innovation and growth more than incoherent rules and unpredictable dynamics. Up until this point, we have avoided that fate because Michigan has benefited from bipartisan support for AV innovation and investment."
