As I have stated multiple time on this site, over multiple months now - the #NHTSA is an absolutely horrible #auto regulator that, frankly, has done tremendous, lasted damage to US #RoadwaySafety.
The Revolving Door back to industry is no surprise either.
It is corrosive and the public, largely unknowingly, pays for it with their lives.
The US is now at 40-year highs in pedestrian deaths and with the total oversight vacuum of automated driving systems... I expect that number to explode upwards, sadly.
Taking a break from #Musk's Hate Train on the Hellsite to recall this series of Tweets from a few years ago.
While under-appreciated then and now, the Tweet thread by Musk posted below contains an extremely damning #SystemsSafety admission and it displays the considerable #PublicSafety blind spot associated with remotely updating #SafetyCritical systems without oversight.
Musk has no clue what he admitted to here, but systems safety experts do.
@justafrog Your lack-of-faith for automotive regulators is completely valid.
No one should have any.
The #NHTSA, in the US, is a horrible regulatory agency - worse than can be possibly imagined.
The agency spends all day constructing elaborate, but paper-thin facades and puppet shows for the public - all while the public is being materially harmed.
And, indeed, they really only wake up, just a little bit, when a bad headline comes out that they cannot sweep under the rug.
"Track based assessments" of driver assistance tech, whilst being awful in many circumstances on our roads. Thanks to OEMs working to pass the tests, as admitted by Thatcham, and not be user and real-world friendly.
Looking forward to seeing data that proves these help - I'll cut to the chase, the only data we will ever get is if it is activated, no proof it did anything of use. And that is used already to claim "SAFETY", see the meaningless AEB data that is spouted.
@EricPaulDennis@CrackedWindscreen Oh. The pedestrian or VRU will be next in the blame cycle at the #NHTSA once the human driver cannot be as easily blamed anymore.
Yes indeed.
Anything, anything at all, to keep the blame on any human.
@EricPaulDennis@CrackedWindscreen I mean… the #NHTSA could hardly believe their luck that Elaine Herzberg was “jaywalking” when the #Uber ADS test vehicle struck and killed her.
The NHTSA had that out.
And the NHTSA has an impaired driver out (despite Uber’s undeniable responsibility to maintain a robust Safety Management System with its test operators).
If Herzberg had not been killed, they might have gone after her too.
Frankly, Uber ATG was operating under a highly-negligent process (if a "process" could even be used to describe it) that was tacitly approved by the #NHTSA.
Or more accurately, very well built cars, thanks to NCAP's work, whose manufacturers have been pressurised into fitting technology that works on a test track but not reliably on public roads, as NCAP needed to keep its business going after it reached the limit of safe construction, so made up where else it pokes its nose.
And, sadly, in the US at least, authorities and regulators were more than happy to pin the blame on the foreign automaker in question (which is fine), but without effectively making any regulatory robustness changes to prevent such issues in the future (which is not fine, obviously).
The #NHTSA and #EPA gaslight the public and play political games in order to avoid ever doing their jobs.
@kentindell The #FDA must have the regulatory robustness of the #NHTSA, near as I can tell (at as far as experimental devices are concerned).
This is unbelievable.
To my knowledge, the #USDA OIG has not even concluded an investigation into allegations of horrid animal-welfare violations - which is, to me, a clear-cut signal as to how #Neuralink will treat any trial participants.
Roughly every four years, the #USDOT OIG issues the same report about the #NHTSA.
The NHTSA, the theoretical regulator for vehicle and highway safety in the US, is an unserious and stupid agency that no automaker takes seriously behind closed doors.
An automaker, #Tesla, deliberately allowed video games to be viewed and accessed by human drivers on a primary or sole vehicle HMI for about a year before the press discovered it.
@samabuelsamid, who I generally agree with, offers some thoughts.
@mimsical, who I also generally agree with, is mentioned in passing.
And, well, I have typically agreed less with Timothy Lee's thoughts over the years (particularly on #Tesla-related topics), but this article is reasonable enough.
But let's crack it open and take a look at a few things that I think are iffy.
Hmm. Going to throw up some flags here. This needs a #SystemsSafety perspective.
Firstly, there is no #PublicSafetly value (ultimately, the only thing that matters) in "criticizing" #Waymo and #Cruise (or, at least without criticizing, say, the #NHTSA at the same time)...
They are operating under a complete and deliberate lack of regulatory scrutiny that should be in place, but is not in place.
Arguably, the #NHTSA never effectively had the resources to create and enforce vehicle and highway safety regulations... but now, they are definitively tapped out.
The previous Senate-confirmed, NHTSA Administrator, Steven Cliff, only lasted about three months in office - and only just long enough to see some long-overdue vehicle #emissions regulations pass.
@enmodo I really did not say much of anything there.
I meant "outsized" in terms of a constellation of historic (like increasing vehicle size) and emerging (like automated driving systems) vehicle safety issues that are growing and converging.
And, no, the dysfunction and obstruction in #Congress is not a valid excuse in my view.
@enmodo He does. Repeatedly. Twice just this month by my count.
It has all the hallmarks of an individual that simply cannot understand or appreciate the actual safety issues.
The press seems to catch him in between tech conferences and I have zero clue how the Secretary of Transportation, with serious and ongoing roadway and rail safety issues no less, has time for any of that.
The #NHTSA is without permanent leadership today, as we speak.
After the total vacuum of the #Trump Administration, though, and given the unique changes in the #automotive technology landscape... I feel strongly we needed a "war time" secretary.
Someone like (current #NTSB Chair) Jennifer Homendy that understands the systems safety issues and can work the politics if need be.
Honestly, I would have settled with any former NTSB chairperson being tapped for the #NHTSA leadership - even acting leadership.
An interesting article here by @mimsical and I would recommend reading it.
I think it is a reasonable take on how, essentially, the regulatory landscape will look in the US and perhaps elsewhere.
That said, I have some notes.
Not so much on the article itself... but on my favorite punching bag, the #NHTSA.
For those that do not know, the NHTSA is the unserious, disinterested and effectively theoretical regulator in the US for vehicle and roadway safety. 🧵