At the end of last year, testing of autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger services began again in California, resuming progress toward the day commercial AV passenger services will be approved. Testing shut down completely in response to the pandemic, but began to revive last summer. As a practical matter, only three companies (Pony.ai, Waymo, Zoox) performed enough testing to generate a meaningful amount of data, and one company (Aurora) had its permit to test revoked, but testing activity is clearly picking back up.

Two California agencies have oversight of these testing activities: the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Permits and reporting are required by both organizations. The California DMV has run an autonomous vehicle (AV) testing program since 2015 and we have been tracking these results for multiple years. The 2021 results were released in February 2022 and was summarized in this column.

The CPUC has also started collecting information on AVs but is focused on passenger transportation applications and deployment. The project name is: CPUC Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Drivered and Driverless Pilot and Phase I Deployment Programs. This column summarizes and analyzes the information that is available on the CPUC website at: Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service Programs (ca.gov).

The CPUC regulates the use of AVs for passenger service anywhere in California. It does so through permits for the programs, data collection, analysis and potential investigative or enforcement actions. The CPUC has adopted specific goals for the AV passenger programs:

* Protect passenger safety.

* Expand the benefits of AV technologies to all Californians, including people with disabilities.

* Improve transportation options for all, particularly for disadvantaged and low-income communities.

* Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutants and toxic air contaminants, particularly indisadvantaged communities.

* The next table is a summary of the status of these AV passenger services including strategy, participants, reporting requirements and other information.

AV Passenger Vehicles

On May 31, 2018, CPUC authorized two pilot programs for private transportation of passengers in test autonomous vehicles:

* The “Drivered AV Passenger Service” pilot program allows passenger service in test AVs with a driver in the vehicle. Under this pilot program, a safety driver assists with operations if needed.

* The “Driverless AV Passenger Service” pilot program allows passenger service in test AVs without a driver in the vehicle. This pilot program requires a teleoperation communication link between passengers and “remote operators” of the vehicle—available and maintained at all times during passenger service.

* On November 20, 2020, CPUC authorized two new AV passenger services:

* One deployment program for Drivered AVs with fares authorized for services.

* One deployment program for driverless AV service deployment program.

In addition, applicants to the Driverless Pilot Program and the Driverless Deployment Program are required to submit Passenger Safety Plans to protect passengers. Applicants in the AV deployment programs must obtain an AV Deployment Permit from the California DMV.

The Driverless Deployment program also requires the submission of a Tier 3 advice letter in addition to the TCP (Transportation Charter Party) permit application.

By: DocMemory
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