Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative, 42421-42424 [2023-13902]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 125 / Friday, June 30, 2023 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA–2023–015]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget for Review
and Approval; Automated Vehicle
Transparency and Engagement for
Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative
National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments on a request for approval for
extension with modification of a
currently approved information
collection.
AGENCY:
In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), this notice announces that the
Information Collection Request (ICR)
abstracted below will be submitted to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval. The ICR
describes the nature of the information
collection and its expected burden. The
information collection described in this
document is for NHTSA’s Automated
Vehicle Transparency and Engagement
for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative,
which involves the collection of
voluntarily-submitted information from
entities involved in the testing of
vehicles equipped with automated
driving systems (ADS) and from States
and local authorities involved in the
regulation of ADS testing. The purpose
of this collection is to provide
information to the public about ADS
testing operations in the United States
and applicable State and local laws,
regulations, and guidelines. A Federal
Register Notice with a 60-day comment
period soliciting comments on the
information collection was published on
April 6, 2023 (83 FR 20608). NHTSA
received 3 comment submission and a
brief summary and NHTSA’s response
to those comments is provided in this
document.
SUMMARY:
Comments must be submitted on
or before July 31, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including
suggestions for reducing burden, should
be submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
To find this particular information
collection, select ‘‘Currently under
Review—Open for Public Comment’’ or
use the search function.
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DATES:
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For
additional information or access to
background documents, contact Chris
Wiacek, Office of Data Acquisition,
(NSA–100), Room W53–478, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
20590. Mr. Wiacek’s telephone number
is (202) 366–4801. Please identify the
relevant collection of information by
referring to its OMB Control Number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the
PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a Federal
agency must receive approval from the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) before it collects certain
information from the public and a
person is not required to respond to a
collection of information by a Federal
agency unless the collection displays a
valid OMB control number. In
compliance with these requirements,
this notice announces that the following
information collection request will be
submitted OMB.
A Federal Register notice with a 60day comment period soliciting public
comments on the following information
collection was published on April 6,
2023.
Title: Automated Vehicle
Transparency and Engagement for Safe
Testing (AV TEST) Initiative.
OMB Control Number: 2127–0748.
Form Number: NHTSA Form 1586—
AV TEST Tracker eForm; NHTSA Form
1587—AV TEST Onboarding Form.
Type of Request: Request for approval
for extension with modification of a
currently approved information
collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three
years from the date of approval.
Summary of the Collection of
Information: The U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) was established by Congress
to save lives, prevent injuries, and
reduce economic costs due to motor
vehicle crashes through education,
research, safety standards, and
enforcement activity. DOT and NHTSA
are fully committed to reaching an era
of crash-free roadways through the
deployment of innovative lifesaving
technologies. The prevalence of
automotive crashes in the United States
underscores the urgency to develop and
deploy lifesaving technologies that can
dramatically decrease the number of
fatalities and injuries on our Nation’s
roadways.
NHTSA believes that Automated
Driving System (ADS) technology,
including technology contemplating no
human driver at all, has the potential to
significantly improve roadway safety in
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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the United States. This technology
remains substantially in development
phases with companies across the
United States performing varying levels
of development, research, and testing
relating to the performance of various
aspects of ADS vehicle technologies.
While much of these development
operations occur in private facilities and
closed-course test tracks, many
stakeholders have progressed to
conducting ADS vehicle testing on
public roads or in public
demonstrations. Moreover, to regulate
such operations in their jurisdictions,
many local authorities, such as States
and cities, have passed laws governing
ADS vehicle testing on public roads.
These statutes, regulations, and
ordinances vary, ranging from
operational requirements to mandating
the submission of periodic reports
detailing ADS vehicle operation.
Description of the Need for the
Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: The AV TEST Initiative
seeks to enhance public education and
engagement with public ADS vehicle
testing by coalescing information
regarding respondents’ various testing
operations or requirements into a
centralized resource. This information
collection seeks voluntarily-provided
information from entities performing
ADS testing about their operations and
information from local authorities about
requirements or recommendations for
such operations. NHTSA maintains a
digital platform on its website 1 that
collects information from respondents
and makes the information about ADS
operations and applicable State and
local requirements and
recommendations available to members
of the public.
The program supports two main
objectives. The first objective is to
provide the public with access to
geographic visualizations of testing at
the national, State, and local levels. This
information is displayed on a graphic of
the United States, with projects overlaid
on the geographic areas in which the
testing project is taking place. By
clicking on a testing location, members
of the public see additional information
about the operation and the ADS
operator. Additional information may
include basic information about the
ADS operator, a brief statement about
the entity, specific details of the testing
activity, high-level (non-confidential)
descriptions of the vehicles and
technology, photos of the test vehicles,
the dates on which testing occurs,
frequency of vehicle operations, the
1 https://www.nhtsa.gov/automated-vehicle-testtracking-tool.
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 125 / Friday, June 30, 2023 / Notices
number of vehicles participating in the
project, the specific streets or areas
comprising the testing routes,
information about safety drivers and
their training, information about
engagement with the community and/or
local government, weblinks to the
company’s websites with brief
introductory statements, and a link to
the company’s Voluntary Safety SelfAssessment (VSSA).2
The second objective is to provide
members of the public with information
collected from States and local
authorities that regulate ADS
operations. State and local authorities
will be asked to provide weblinks for
specific ADS-related topics, such as
statutes, regulations, or guidelines for
ADS operations, privacy-related issues,
emergency response policies and
training, or other activities that cultivate
ADS testing. This program provides a
central resource for the aforementioned
information concerning ADS testing
across the United States.
Affected Public: There are two
information collection components to
this request. The first affects entities
engaged in testing of ADS vehicles,
including original manufacturers of
ADS vehicles and ADS vehicle
equipment, and operators of ADS
vehicles. The second affects local
authorities regulating testing of ADS
vehicles within their jurisdictions,
including States, cities, counties, and
other municipalities.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
NHTSA anticipates that the Initiative
could expand to include up to 35 State
or local government respondents and 40
ADS developer, ADS vehicle
manufacturer, or ADS operator
respondents per year.
Frequency: Participation is
completely voluntary, and each
participant will choose its respective
degree of involvement and the
frequency of its submissions. Therefore,
the frequency of a participant’s response
may vary due to a variety of factors,
such as the degree of the entity’s
participation in the initiative or the
frequency with which each entity
modifies its ADS testing operations or,
in the case of local authorities, amends
its regulations governing such
operations.
Number of Responses: Participation is
completely voluntary, and each
participation will choose the number
and frequency of its submissions.
Therefore, the number of responses from
a participant will vary due to a variety
of factors, such as the degree of the
entity’s participation in the initiative or
the frequency with which each entity
modifies its ADS testing operations or,
in the case of local authorities, amends
its regulations governing such
operations.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: NHTSA estimates that the
annual burden of participation will be
approximately 48 hours for private
industry respondents that include ADS
operators, developers, or vehicle
manufacturers. This total number of
hours represents approximately four
hours per month to perform data entry
for testing projects (4 hours × 12 months
= 48). Therefore, for the estimated 40
ADS operator participants, the total
burden is estimated to be 1,920 hours
per year (40 respondents × 48 hours).
NHTSA estimates that each State or
local authority respondent would spend
approximately 10 hours responding to
this collection. Therefore, for the
estimated 35 State or local authority
participants, the total burden is
estimated to be 350 hours per year.
The total burden for the entire
information collection request is
estimated to be 2,270 hours (1,920 hours
+ 350 hours). The total burden hours
have been reduced from the original
estimate of 2,520 when the agency first
sought approval for this information
collection because of the lower
estimated participation. However, the
agency believes the annual hours per
respondent has not changed.
The labor cost associated with this
collection of information is derived by
(1) applying the appropriate average
hourly labor rate published by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2) dividing
by either 0.705 3 (70.5%), for private
industry workers, or 0.619 (61.9%), for
state and local government workers, to
obtain the total cost of compensation,
and (3) multiplying by the estimated
burden hours for each respondent type.
Labor costs associated with original
manufacturers of ADS Vehicles or ADS
vehicle equipment and operators of ADS
vehicles are estimated to be $60.48 per
hour for ‘‘Project Management
Specialists,’’ Occupation Code 13–1082,
($42.64 4 per hour ÷ 0.705). The labor
cost per private industry respondent for
each year for development and
submission of information is estimated
to be $2,903.04 ($60.48 × 48 hours).
Therefore, the total annual labor cost for
private industry to participate in the AV
TEST Initiative is estimated to be
$116,121.60 ($2,903.04 × 40
respondents).
Labor costs associated with local and
regional authorities, such as states,
counties, and cities are estimated to be
$66.79 per hour for ‘‘Legal Support
Workers,’’ Occupation Code 23–2099,
($41.34 5 per hour ÷ 0.619). The labor
cost per regional authority respondent
for each year for development and
submission of information is estimated
to be $667.90 ($66.79 × 10 hours).
Therefore, the total annual labor cost for
regional authorities to participate in the
AV TEST Initiative is estimated to be
$23,376.50 ($667.9 × 35 respondents).
The total annual labor costs for all
respondents, private industry, and
regional authorities together, are
estimated to be $139,499 ($116,122 +
$23.377). See Table 1 below for a
summary of estimated burden hours and
estimated labor costs.
TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED BURDEN HOURS AND ESTIMATED LABOR COSTS
Number of
respondents
Respondent type
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Original Manufacturer of ADS Vehicles or ADS Vehicle Equipment and
Operators of ADS Vehicles .......................................................................
State or Local Authority ................................................................................
2 Voluntary Self-Assessments are described in
Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for
Safety, available at https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/
nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_
090617_v9a_tag.pdf. VSSAs are covered by the PRA
Clearance with OMB Control Number 2127–0723.
3 See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee
Compensation by ownership (Sep. 2022), available
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40
35
Annual
hours per
respondent
48
10
at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t01.htm
(accessed March 14, 2023).
4 See May 2021 National Industry-Specific
Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
NAICS 336100—Motor Vehicle Manufacturing,
available (accessed March 14, 2023).
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Labor
cost per
hour
$60.48
66.79
Annual labor
cost per
respondent
$2,903.04
667.900
Total
estimated
burden
hours
1,920
350
Total
annual
labor costs
$116,122
23,377
5 See May 2021 National Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates by ownership
Federal, state, and local government, including
government-owned schools and hospitals and the
U.S. Postal Service, available at https://
www.bls.gov/oes/current/999001.htm#23-0000
(accessed March 14, 2023).
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TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED BURDEN HOURS AND ESTIMATED LABOR COSTS—Continued
Number of
respondents
Respondent type
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Total All Respondents ............................................................................
NHTSA’s estimate for the burden
hours for participants remained the
same from the April 6, 2023, notice.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost:
NHTSA estimates that there will be no
costs to respondents other than labor
costs associated with burden hours.
Summary of Public Comments: On
April 6, 2023, NHTSA published a
notice in the Federal Register Notice
with a 60-day comment period soliciting
comments on the information collection
(88 FR 20608). NHTSA received a total
of 3 comment submission from
organizations including, Alliance for
Automotive Innovation (Auto
Innovators), Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA) and a joint submission from
Safe Kids Worldwide and Safe Kids in
Automated Vehicle Alliance (Safe Kids).
A summary and response to the
comments is provided below.
All commenters supported the
Initiative’s objective to enhance public
education and engagement with public
ADS vehicle testing by coalescing
information regarding respondents’
various testing operations or
requirements into a centralized resource
including information collected from
States and local authorities that regulate
ADS operations. Specifically, Auto
Innovators commented that providing
the public with access to see where
testing is occurring at the national, state,
and local levels helps provide
additional transparency and assurances
for how safety, mobility and
accessibility issues are being addressed
by innovators in the AV space, which is
critical for building public acceptance of
this burgeoning technology. OOIDA
supported the objectives of the AV
TEST Initiative by stating, it provides
the public with direct and easy access
to information about AV testing and
development, along with information
from states regarding activity,
legislation, regulations, and local
involvement in automation on our
roadways. Safe Kids stated NHTSA’s
information and data collection under
the AV TEST Initiative provides a
mechanism to keep the public and
safety advocates informed about
automated vehicle testing activities to
be conducted on public roads
throughout the country.
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75
Annual
hours per
respondent
Labor
cost per
hour
Annual labor
cost per
respondent
....................
................
........................
The agency did not receive specific
comments on the burden of the data
collection, however OOIDA and Auto
Innovators provided additional
comments on how the agency may
enhance the Initiative.
OOIDA stated the voluntary nature of
AV TEST has not been effective in
producing the necessary safety data to
implement informed regulatory policies
for autonomous vehicles. The AV TEST
Initiative’s voluntary structure prevents
the program from best accomplishing its
goals and NHTSA must require
mandatory data transparency from
manufacturers because it will help
educate consumers, the industry, and
regulators about the actual reliability
and performance of autonomous
technology.
In response, the agency’s objective of
the AV TEST Initiative is to provide
members of the public with a
centralized database of high-level
information about ADS testing activities
and State and local laws,
recommendations, and initiatives. It is,
therefore, outside of the scope of the
project to make any reporting
mandatory or to expand the collection
to include safety information or
information that NHTSA would use to
evaluate the safety of ADS operations.
The Auto Innovators provided further
comments specific to the AV TEST
Initiative and how data is presented to
the public. The Auto Innovators stated
that it is important that NHTSA conduct
periodic reviews to verify the accuracy
of information that is made available on
the AV TEST initiative portal, and that
it is up to date. This may include spot
check outreach to select organizations to
provide updates on the status of their
operations, or other updates to the data
where the information is known to no
longer be accurate (for example, if an
AV tester were to cease operations).
In response, the agency agrees with
the Auto Innovators and believes
accurate data serves the intent of the
Initiative to enhance public education
and engagement with public ADS
vehicles. However, NHTSA notes that
data submitted as part of the AV TEST
Initiative may become stale. For
example, because the AV TEST
Initiative is voluntary, an ADS operator
could provide information on an ADS
operation and never update NHTSA
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Total
estimated
burden
hours
2,270
Total
annual
labor costs
139,499
when the operation is completed.
Although we provide a mechanism for
participants to change the status of test
sites from active to inactive or
completed, participants may not update
the status of an operation. NHTSA does
reach out to program participants about
operations that has not been updated for
an extended period of time. In addition,
we have provided participants the
ability to remove out-of-date
information and archive the data, which
removes it from the AV TEST web page.
Furthermore, because the information
submitted by participants is voluntary,
before information is transferred to the
public website the agency reviews the
submissions for any obvious errors or
concerns and will contact the
participants accordingly prior to
approval for publication if any concerns
are identified. The agency also does a
general periodic review for information
that is out-of-data such as removing
participants from the public website
when we become aware the entity is no
longer testing and has ceased
operations.
The Auto Innovators also
recommended NHTSA consider
repurposing or rebranding the AV TEST
initiative to emphasize not only the
testing of AVs, but also to capture the
transition from testing to real-world
deployment. This is unlikely to create
any additional burden in terms of the
information provided as part of the AV
TEST initiative but is likely an
important distinction to make in
building public acceptance and
confidence in new technology. This
could perhaps be achieved by using
different colors and/or patterns to
enable users to distinguish between
testing and deployment in the online
visualization tool.
In response, the agency believes the
AV TEST Initiative needs to evolve over
time as the technology progresses and
the ADS developers transition their
operations to have changing interaction
with the public beyond testing and
demonstration. Currently, the AV TEST
Initiative provides participants the
options to identify testing operations
where the vehicles are providing a
service to the public, however, currently
specific to testing and not real-world
deployment. As recently as May 10th,
2023, the agency held a workshop with
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 125 / Friday, June 30, 2023 / Notices
participants where we rolled out
changes made to the AV TEST website
based upon earlier feedback from
participants to improve the conveyance
of information to the public. We
encourage participants and the public to
contact the agency on ways to further
improve the AV TEST experience.6
Prior to committing resources, the
agency would like further information
on the need and scope of the real-world
deployment of ADS vehicles.
Lastly, Auto Innovators suggested,
NHTSA should proactively encourage
states to share information on statewide
AV policies or initiatives as part of the
AV TEST program, as this information
is not only critical for public
transparency, but also an important
resource for manufacturers that need to
develop systems to account for
operational and policy related
differences between regions.
In response, the agency has
proactively reached out to states and
encouraged them to participate in this
voluntary program. In discussion with
the states, the agency recognizes that
each state has their own priorities with
respect to ADS vehicles and may have
limited resources or interest to
participate in AV TEST. The agency
continues to encourage state
participation, however, as noted earlier
this is a voluntary program.
NHTSA appreciates the commenters’
input and will keep this input in mind
when considering future approaches to
ADS technologies.
Public Comments Invited: You are
asked to comment on any aspects of this
information collection, including (a)
whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the proposed collection
of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility
and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of responses.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as
6 ADSInformationDesk@dot.gov.
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amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order
1351.29.
Chou-Lin Chou,
Associate Administrator, National Center for
Statistics and Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2023–13902 Filed 6–29–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–59–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DOT–OST–2023–0063]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Approval of Information
Collection
AGENCY:
Office of the Secretary (OST),
DOT.
60-Day notice and request for
comments.
ACTION:
The Department of
Transportation (DOT) invites public
comments on our intention to request
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) approval for an information
collection in accordance with the
requirements of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. The collection is
necessary for administration of the
Multimodal Project Discretionary Grants
(MPDG). This includes three funding
opportunities: the ‘‘National
Infrastructure Project Assistance grants
program (Mega),’’ the ‘‘Nationally
Significant Multimodal Freight and
Highways Projects grants program
(INFRA)’’, and the ‘‘Rural Surface
Transportation Grant program (Rural)’’.
The MPDG provides Federal financial
assistance for surface transportation
infrastructure projects—including
highway and bridge, intercity passenger
rail, railway-highway grade and
separation, wildlife crossing, public
transportation, marine highway, and
freight and multimodal projects, or
groups of such projects, of national or
regional significance, as well as to
projects to improve and expand the
surface transportation infrastructure in
rural areas.
DATES: Written comments should be
submitted by August 29, 2023.
ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not
duplicate your docket submissions,
please submit them by only one of the
following means:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and follow
the online instructions for submitting
comments.
• Mail: Docket Management Facility,
U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building
SUMMARY:
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Ground Floor Room W12–140,
Washington, DC 20590–0001.
• Hand Delivery: West Building
Ground Floor, Room W–12–140 1200
New Jersey Ave. SE, between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays. The telephone number
is 202–366–9329.
Instructions: To ensure proper
docketing of your comment, please
include the agency name and docket
number [DOT–OST–2023–0063] at the
beginning of your comments. All
comments received will be posted
without change to https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information regarding this
notice, please contact the Office of the
Secretary via email at MPDGgrants@
dot.gov, or call Paul Baumer at (202)
366–1092. A TDD is available for
individuals who are deaf or hard of
hearing at 202–366–3993.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: New
Collection. OMB number will be issued
after the collection is approved.
Title: Multimodal Project
Discretionary Grant (MPDG).
Form Numbers: None.
Type of Review: New Information
Collection Request (ICR).
Background: The Office of the
Secretary (‘‘OST’’) within the
Department of Transportation (DOT)
provides financial assistance for surface
transportation infrastructure projects—
including to highway and bridge,
intercity passenger rail, railwayhighway grade and separation, wildlife
crossing, public transportation, marine
highway, and freight and multimodal
projects, or groups of such projects, of
national or regional significance, as well
as to projects to improve and expand the
surface transportation infrastructure in
rural areas. Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117–58, November
15, 2021) (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
or BIL) provided funds to the
Department across three programs to
invest in projects of national or regional
significance—the National
Infrastructure Project Assistance grants
program, found under 49 U.S.C. 6701
(‘‘Mega’’), the Nationally Significant
Multimodal Freight and Highways
Projects grants program, found at 23
U.S.C. 117 (Infrastructure for Rebuilding
America or ‘‘INFRA’’), and the Rural
Surface Transportation Grant program,
found at 23 U.S.C. 173 (‘‘Rural’’). To
help streamline the process for
applicants, the Department has
combined the applications for the Mega,
INFRA, and Rural programs into the
MPDG common application.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 125 (Friday, June 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42421-42424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13902]
[[Page 42421]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2023-015]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Automated
Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST)
Initiative
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for approval for
extension with modification of a currently approved information
collection.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
abstracted below will be submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of
the information collection and its expected burden. The information
collection described in this document is for NHTSA's Automated Vehicle
Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative,
which involves the collection of voluntarily-submitted information from
entities involved in the testing of vehicles equipped with automated
driving systems (ADS) and from States and local authorities involved in
the regulation of ADS testing. The purpose of this collection is to
provide information to the public about ADS testing operations in the
United States and applicable State and local laws, regulations, and
guidelines. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period
soliciting comments on the information collection was published on
April 6, 2023 (83 FR 20608). NHTSA received 3 comment submission and a
brief summary and NHTSA's response to those comments is provided in
this document.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 31, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden,
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. To find this particular information
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment''
or use the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Chris Wiacek, Office of Data
Acquisition, (NSA-100), Room W53-478, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590. Mr. Wiacek's telephone number is (202) 366-4801.
Please identify the relevant collection of information by referring to
its OMB Control Number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public and
a person is not required to respond to a collection of information by a
Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces
that the following information collection request will be submitted
OMB.
A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting
public comments on the following information collection was published
on April 6, 2023.
Title: Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe
Testing (AV TEST) Initiative.
OMB Control Number: 2127-0748.
Form Number: NHTSA Form 1586--AV TEST Tracker eForm; NHTSA Form
1587--AV TEST Onboarding Form.
Type of Request: Request for approval for extension with
modification of a currently approved information collection.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three years from the date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) was established by Congress to save lives, prevent injuries,
and reduce economic costs due to motor vehicle crashes through
education, research, safety standards, and enforcement activity. DOT
and NHTSA are fully committed to reaching an era of crash-free roadways
through the deployment of innovative lifesaving technologies. The
prevalence of automotive crashes in the United States underscores the
urgency to develop and deploy lifesaving technologies that can
dramatically decrease the number of fatalities and injuries on our
Nation's roadways.
NHTSA believes that Automated Driving System (ADS) technology,
including technology contemplating no human driver at all, has the
potential to significantly improve roadway safety in the United States.
This technology remains substantially in development phases with
companies across the United States performing varying levels of
development, research, and testing relating to the performance of
various aspects of ADS vehicle technologies. While much of these
development operations occur in private facilities and closed-course
test tracks, many stakeholders have progressed to conducting ADS
vehicle testing on public roads or in public demonstrations. Moreover,
to regulate such operations in their jurisdictions, many local
authorities, such as States and cities, have passed laws governing ADS
vehicle testing on public roads. These statutes, regulations, and
ordinances vary, ranging from operational requirements to mandating the
submission of periodic reports detailing ADS vehicle operation.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: The AV TEST Initiative seeks to enhance public education
and engagement with public ADS vehicle testing by coalescing
information regarding respondents' various testing operations or
requirements into a centralized resource. This information collection
seeks voluntarily-provided information from entities performing ADS
testing about their operations and information from local authorities
about requirements or recommendations for such operations. NHTSA
maintains a digital platform on its website \1\ that collects
information from respondents and makes the information about ADS
operations and applicable State and local requirements and
recommendations available to members of the public.
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\1\ https://www.nhtsa.gov/automated-vehicle-test-tracking-tool.
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The program supports two main objectives. The first objective is to
provide the public with access to geographic visualizations of testing
at the national, State, and local levels. This information is displayed
on a graphic of the United States, with projects overlaid on the
geographic areas in which the testing project is taking place. By
clicking on a testing location, members of the public see additional
information about the operation and the ADS operator. Additional
information may include basic information about the ADS operator, a
brief statement about the entity, specific details of the testing
activity, high-level (non-confidential) descriptions of the vehicles
and technology, photos of the test vehicles, the dates on which testing
occurs, frequency of vehicle operations, the
[[Page 42422]]
number of vehicles participating in the project, the specific streets
or areas comprising the testing routes, information about safety
drivers and their training, information about engagement with the
community and/or local government, weblinks to the company's websites
with brief introductory statements, and a link to the company's
Voluntary Safety Self-Assessment (VSSA).\2\
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\2\ Voluntary Self-Assessments are described in Automated
Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety, available at https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a-ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf. VSSAs are covered by the PRA Clearance
with OMB Control Number 2127-0723.
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The second objective is to provide members of the public with
information collected from States and local authorities that regulate
ADS operations. State and local authorities will be asked to provide
weblinks for specific ADS-related topics, such as statutes,
regulations, or guidelines for ADS operations, privacy-related issues,
emergency response policies and training, or other activities that
cultivate ADS testing. This program provides a central resource for the
aforementioned information concerning ADS testing across the United
States.
Affected Public: There are two information collection components to
this request. The first affects entities engaged in testing of ADS
vehicles, including original manufacturers of ADS vehicles and ADS
vehicle equipment, and operators of ADS vehicles. The second affects
local authorities regulating testing of ADS vehicles within their
jurisdictions, including States, cities, counties, and other
municipalities.
Estimated Number of Respondents: NHTSA anticipates that the
Initiative could expand to include up to 35 State or local government
respondents and 40 ADS developer, ADS vehicle manufacturer, or ADS
operator respondents per year.
Frequency: Participation is completely voluntary, and each
participant will choose its respective degree of involvement and the
frequency of its submissions. Therefore, the frequency of a
participant's response may vary due to a variety of factors, such as
the degree of the entity's participation in the initiative or the
frequency with which each entity modifies its ADS testing operations
or, in the case of local authorities, amends its regulations governing
such operations.
Number of Responses: Participation is completely voluntary, and
each participation will choose the number and frequency of its
submissions. Therefore, the number of responses from a participant will
vary due to a variety of factors, such as the degree of the entity's
participation in the initiative or the frequency with which each entity
modifies its ADS testing operations or, in the case of local
authorities, amends its regulations governing such operations.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: NHTSA estimates that the
annual burden of participation will be approximately 48 hours for
private industry respondents that include ADS operators, developers, or
vehicle manufacturers. This total number of hours represents
approximately four hours per month to perform data entry for testing
projects (4 hours x 12 months = 48). Therefore, for the estimated 40
ADS operator participants, the total burden is estimated to be 1,920
hours per year (40 respondents x 48 hours).
NHTSA estimates that each State or local authority respondent would
spend approximately 10 hours responding to this collection. Therefore,
for the estimated 35 State or local authority participants, the total
burden is estimated to be 350 hours per year.
The total burden for the entire information collection request is
estimated to be 2,270 hours (1,920 hours + 350 hours). The total burden
hours have been reduced from the original estimate of 2,520 when the
agency first sought approval for this information collection because of
the lower estimated participation. However, the agency believes the
annual hours per respondent has not changed.
The labor cost associated with this collection of information is
derived by (1) applying the appropriate average hourly labor rate
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2) dividing by either
0.705 \3\ (70.5%), for private industry workers, or 0.619 (61.9%), for
state and local government workers, to obtain the total cost of
compensation, and (3) multiplying by the estimated burden hours for
each respondent type.
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\3\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (Sep. 2022), available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t01.htm (accessed March 14, 2023).
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Labor costs associated with original manufacturers of ADS Vehicles
or ADS vehicle equipment and operators of ADS vehicles are estimated to
be $60.48 per hour for ``Project Management Specialists,'' Occupation
Code 13-1082, ($42.64 \4\ per hour / 0.705). The labor cost per private
industry respondent for each year for development and submission of
information is estimated to be $2,903.04 ($60.48 x 48 hours).
Therefore, the total annual labor cost for private industry to
participate in the AV TEST Initiative is estimated to be $116,121.60
($2,903.04 x 40 respondents).
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\4\ See May 2021 National Industry-Specific Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle
Manufacturing, available (accessed March 14, 2023).
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Labor costs associated with local and regional authorities, such as
states, counties, and cities are estimated to be $66.79 per hour for
``Legal Support Workers,'' Occupation Code 23-2099, ($41.34 \5\ per
hour / 0.619). The labor cost per regional authority respondent for
each year for development and submission of information is estimated to
be $667.90 ($66.79 x 10 hours). Therefore, the total annual labor cost
for regional authorities to participate in the AV TEST Initiative is
estimated to be $23,376.50 ($667.9 x 35 respondents).
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\5\ See May 2021 National Occupational Employment and Wage
Estimates by ownership Federal, state, and local government,
including government-owned schools and hospitals and the U.S. Postal
Service, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/999001.htm#23-0000 (accessed March 14, 2023).
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The total annual labor costs for all respondents, private industry,
and regional authorities together, are estimated to be $139,499
($116,122 + $23.377). See Table 1 below for a summary of estimated
burden hours and estimated labor costs.
Table 1--Summary of Estimated Burden Hours and Estimated Labor Costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total
Number of Annual Labor Annual labor estimated Total annual
Respondent type respondents hours per cost per cost per burden labor costs
respondent hour respondent hours
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Original Manufacturer of ADS 40 48 $60.48 $2,903.04 1,920 $116,122
Vehicles or ADS Vehicle
Equipment and Operators of
ADS Vehicles.................
State or Local Authority...... 35 10 66.79 667.900 350 23,377
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[[Page 42423]]
Total All Respondents..... 75 ........... ......... .............. 2,270 139,499
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NHTSA's estimate for the burden hours for participants remained the
same from the April 6, 2023, notice.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: NHTSA estimates that there will
be no costs to respondents other than labor costs associated with
burden hours.
Summary of Public Comments: On April 6, 2023, NHTSA published a
notice in the Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period
soliciting comments on the information collection (88 FR 20608). NHTSA
received a total of 3 comment submission from organizations including,
Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators), Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and a joint submission from
Safe Kids Worldwide and Safe Kids in Automated Vehicle Alliance (Safe
Kids). A summary and response to the comments is provided below.
All commenters supported the Initiative's objective to enhance
public education and engagement with public ADS vehicle testing by
coalescing information regarding respondents' various testing
operations or requirements into a centralized resource including
information collected from States and local authorities that regulate
ADS operations. Specifically, Auto Innovators commented that providing
the public with access to see where testing is occurring at the
national, state, and local levels helps provide additional transparency
and assurances for how safety, mobility and accessibility issues are
being addressed by innovators in the AV space, which is critical for
building public acceptance of this burgeoning technology. OOIDA
supported the objectives of the AV TEST Initiative by stating, it
provides the public with direct and easy access to information about AV
testing and development, along with information from states regarding
activity, legislation, regulations, and local involvement in automation
on our roadways. Safe Kids stated NHTSA's information and data
collection under the AV TEST Initiative provides a mechanism to keep
the public and safety advocates informed about automated vehicle
testing activities to be conducted on public roads throughout the
country.
The agency did not receive specific comments on the burden of the
data collection, however OOIDA and Auto Innovators provided additional
comments on how the agency may enhance the Initiative.
OOIDA stated the voluntary nature of AV TEST has not been effective
in producing the necessary safety data to implement informed regulatory
policies for autonomous vehicles. The AV TEST Initiative's voluntary
structure prevents the program from best accomplishing its goals and
NHTSA must require mandatory data transparency from manufacturers
because it will help educate consumers, the industry, and regulators
about the actual reliability and performance of autonomous technology.
In response, the agency's objective of the AV TEST Initiative is to
provide members of the public with a centralized database of high-level
information about ADS testing activities and State and local laws,
recommendations, and initiatives. It is, therefore, outside of the
scope of the project to make any reporting mandatory or to expand the
collection to include safety information or information that NHTSA
would use to evaluate the safety of ADS operations.
The Auto Innovators provided further comments specific to the AV
TEST Initiative and how data is presented to the public. The Auto
Innovators stated that it is important that NHTSA conduct periodic
reviews to verify the accuracy of information that is made available on
the AV TEST initiative portal, and that it is up to date. This may
include spot check outreach to select organizations to provide updates
on the status of their operations, or other updates to the data where
the information is known to no longer be accurate (for example, if an
AV tester were to cease operations).
In response, the agency agrees with the Auto Innovators and
believes accurate data serves the intent of the Initiative to enhance
public education and engagement with public ADS vehicles. However,
NHTSA notes that data submitted as part of the AV TEST Initiative may
become stale. For example, because the AV TEST Initiative is voluntary,
an ADS operator could provide information on an ADS operation and never
update NHTSA when the operation is completed. Although we provide a
mechanism for participants to change the status of test sites from
active to inactive or completed, participants may not update the status
of an operation. NHTSA does reach out to program participants about
operations that has not been updated for an extended period of time. In
addition, we have provided participants the ability to remove out-of-
date information and archive the data, which removes it from the AV
TEST web page.
Furthermore, because the information submitted by participants is
voluntary, before information is transferred to the public website the
agency reviews the submissions for any obvious errors or concerns and
will contact the participants accordingly prior to approval for
publication if any concerns are identified. The agency also does a
general periodic review for information that is out-of-data such as
removing participants from the public website when we become aware the
entity is no longer testing and has ceased operations.
The Auto Innovators also recommended NHTSA consider repurposing or
rebranding the AV TEST initiative to emphasize not only the testing of
AVs, but also to capture the transition from testing to real-world
deployment. This is unlikely to create any additional burden in terms
of the information provided as part of the AV TEST initiative but is
likely an important distinction to make in building public acceptance
and confidence in new technology. This could perhaps be achieved by
using different colors and/or patterns to enable users to distinguish
between testing and deployment in the online visualization tool.
In response, the agency believes the AV TEST Initiative needs to
evolve over time as the technology progresses and the ADS developers
transition their operations to have changing interaction with the
public beyond testing and demonstration. Currently, the AV TEST
Initiative provides participants the options to identify testing
operations where the vehicles are providing a service to the public,
however, currently specific to testing and not real-world deployment.
As recently as May 10th, 2023, the agency held a workshop with
[[Page 42424]]
participants where we rolled out changes made to the AV TEST website
based upon earlier feedback from participants to improve the conveyance
of information to the public. We encourage participants and the public
to contact the agency on ways to further improve the AV TEST
experience.\6\ Prior to committing resources, the agency would like
further information on the need and scope of the real-world deployment
of ADS vehicles.
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\6\ [email protected].
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Lastly, Auto Innovators suggested, NHTSA should proactively
encourage states to share information on statewide AV policies or
initiatives as part of the AV TEST program, as this information is not
only critical for public transparency, but also an important resource
for manufacturers that need to develop systems to account for
operational and policy related differences between regions.
In response, the agency has proactively reached out to states and
encouraged them to participate in this voluntary program. In discussion
with the states, the agency recognizes that each state has their own
priorities with respect to ADS vehicles and may have limited resources
or interest to participate in AV TEST. The agency continues to
encourage state participation, however, as noted earlier this is a
voluntary program.
NHTSA appreciates the commenters' input and will keep this input in
mind when considering future approaches to ADS technologies.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance
the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
respondents, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of
responses.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.
Chou-Lin Chou,
Associate Administrator, National Center for Statistics and Analysis.
[FR Doc. 2023-13902 Filed 6-29-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
