Review - NHTSA Publishes Impaired Driving Prevention Technology ANPRM

Today, DOT’s National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for “Advanced Impaired Driving Prevention Technology” in the Federal Register (89 FR 830-857). NHTSA is considering a rulemaking that would gather the information necessary to develop performance requirements and require that new passenger motor vehicles be equipped with advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology through a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS). This rulemaking is required by §24220(c) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (PL 117-58, 135 STAT. 832).

NHTSA is seeking information about such technologies that may currently be available or are under development. The series of questions posed by this ANPRM include specific questions dealing with cybersecurity requirements and tools that may be required by the rulemaking.

Public Comments

NHTSA is soliciting public comments on the ANPRM. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # NHTSA-2022-0079). Comments should be submitted by March 5^th, 2024.

Commentary

NHTSA is late with this ANPRM. Section 24220 requires this rulemaking to be completed by November 15^th, 2024; NHTSA will be hard pressed to develop a new safety standard by that time. While Congress did give NHTSA an out for delaying the final rule {§24220(e)}, I am fairly certain that those processes were designed to deal with delays in technology development. With the publication of this ANPRM, NHTSA is just now publicly looking for information about the state of the technology. The federal government is becoming increasingly inefficient, in Congress because of political issues and in the executive branch due to underfunding and understaffing (which appear to be the result of congressional inefficiencies).

 

For more information about this rulemaking, including a list of the cybersecurity questions that NHTSA wants answered, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/nhtsa-publishes-impaired-driving - subscription required.