Perhaps no new technology is more hotly debated in transportation circles than autonomous vehicles. Whether you envision a future of 100% legally compliant, error-free driving or a dystopia of distant commutes and no place for bikes, autonomous vehicles are coming. In several places, they’re already here!
While the League supports the development of this technology and agrees that it has the potential to greatly reduce the traffic injuries and fatalities attributed to distracted driving, speeding and other behaviors, we also believe that these vehicles must meet some basic safety standards before being deployed on our streets.
This is why the League has called for a standardized performance test, or “vision test,†that measures an automated vehicle’s ability to recognize and respond to vulnerable road users, including bicyclists and pedestrians.
Simply put, we need your help to build awareness and momentum of the safety implications of Autonomous Vehicles before it’s too late. Please consider supporting work at the National level by donating today, and contact your Senators to demand a vision test for this new technology.
We will hear about this and more from Chris Morfas who since 2014 has been Senior Advisor to Despacio, a nonprofit based in Bogota, Colombia, a city with rates of transit and bicycle use that are among the highest in the world. Morfas is a longtime transportation reformer, the founding executive director and former Board Chair of the California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike), a senior policy coordinator with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. At CalBike, Morfas directed award-winning successes that launched the nation’s strongest Safe Routes to School program, Complete Streets policy, and the innovative Bicycle Transportation Account that funds bike infrastructure like bikeshare and more.
