The Task Force on Autonomous Vehicles (AV) held their third meeting yesterday to firm up their recommendations for a framework for autonomous vehicle policy in Oregon, which is not currently addressed in state law. ODOT staff will summarize these recommendations into a final report, which will be reviewed by the Task Force and submitted to the Legislature, who will ultimately make any policy decisions going forward. The final report is expected to become available next week, at which time both the AV Task Force and public are encouraged to submit formal comments. The recommendations will be categorized between a testing permit framework and long-term policy considerations. The AV Task Force pulled together these recommendations in less than 90 days.

To view the recommendations approved so far by the task force, take a look at the meeting materials from July 12 and August 15.

The Safe Routes Partnership has been monitoring the AV Task Force activity and provided testimony during this most recent meeting. We thanked the Task Force for its leadership in this very important conversation for our state, and we also asked for them to hold an in-depth discussion on how this emerging technology could and should impact our most vulnerable and at-risk populations. We believe this conversation needs to happen sooner rather than later, to ensure we avoid furthering economic, safety and health disparities for our communities.

We’ll continue to follow the discussion and post updates once the final report has been released.