Dan O'Dowd Urges Congress to Prioritize Safety in Autonomous Vehicle Legislation
Dan O'Dowd, a secure software expert and founder of The Dawn Project, has written a letter to Congress, urging them to prioritize public safety in autonomous vehicle legislation. The letter, dated July 25, 2023, follows news of a congressional hearing on self-driving vehicle regulation and O'Dowd's revelations of defects in Tesla's self-driving software.
O'Dowd's letter comes after tests by his organization, the Global Initiative for Autonomous Vehicle Safety (GIAVS), showed Tesla's self-driving software running down a child-sized mannequin and ignoring road signs. O'Dowd has met with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Senator Blumenthal, and congressional committees to discuss these risks.
The letter calls for legislation that puts the safety of Americans first and removes unsafe self-driving vehicles from roads. O'Dowd suggests that autonomous vehicles should be able to achieve 10,000 miles between disengagements and pass a driver's test consistently. He advocates for standards and safety tests for all autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles before they are released onto public roads. O'Dowd's letter follows other safety advocates' calls for Congress to act, citing 840 accidents involving Tesla's self-driving systems since June 2021.
O'Dowd's letter, addressed to Chairwoman Rodgers, Ranking Member Pallone, Chairman Bilirakis, and Ranking Member Schakowsky, underscores the need for stringent safety regulations in the autonomous vehicle industry. With the increasing number of accidents involving self-driving systems, policymakers are urged to prioritize public safety in their legislation.
