Department of Transportation March 30, 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

After consulting with operators of commercial vessels and other Sea Year stakeholders, on December 15, 2021, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) released on its website agency guidance entitled Every Mariner Builds a Respectful Culture (EMBARC). The EMBARC standards enumerate sexual assault and sexual harassment (SASH) prevention and response safety criteria for commercial vessel operators approved to carry cadets from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) for training purposes. EMBARC includes compliance procedures, and sexual assault and sexual harassment (SASH) prevention and response standards that all commercial vessel operators should implement before the USMMA entrusts them with the at-sea training of midshipmen. EMBARC will help strengthen the maritime industry's efforts to prevent and respond to incidents of SASH and other forms of misconduct and help ensure a safer training environment for all cadets. By this notice, MARAD is seeking public comment on its EMBARC policy.

This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a petition submitted on September 27, 2021, by Mr. James Lamb to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). The petition requests that the Agency initiate an investigation into alleged ``defects in the 2006 J1939 databus,'' citing a 2016 research paper published through the University of Michigan. On December 23, 2021, NHTSA opened Defect Petition DP21-005 to evaluate the petitioner's request. After reviewing the information provided by the petitioner regarding the alleged defect and conducting searches of complaints from vehicle owners, operators, and fleet supervisors, NHTSA has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to warrant further action at this time. Accordingly, the Agency has denied the petition.

This final rule amends the occupant protection Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) to account for future vehicles that do not have the traditional manual controls associated with a human driver because they are equipped with Automated Driving Systems (ADS). This final rule makes clear that, despite their innovative designs, vehicles with ADS technology must continue to provide the same high levels of occupant protection that current passenger vehicles provide. The occupant protection standards are currently written for traditionally designed vehicles and use terms such as ``driver's seat'' and ``steering wheel,'' that are not meaningful to vehicle designs that, for example, lack a steering wheel or other driver controls. This final rule updates the standards in a manner that clarifies existing terminology while avoiding unnecessary terminology, and, in doing so, resolves ambiguities in applying the standards to ADS-equipped vehicles without traditional manual controls. In addition, this final rule amends the standards in a manner that maintains the existing regulatory text whenever possible, to make clear that this rule maintains the level of crash protection currently provided occupants in more traditionally designed vehicles. This final rule is limited to the crashworthiness standards to provide a unified set of regulatory text applicable to vehicles with and without ADS functionality.

FRA is providing this notice to advise the public that it is issuing a Final General Conformity Determination (FCD) for the San Jose to Merced Section of the California High-Speed Rail (HSR) System.