US Autonomous Vehicle Council Comes To A Grinding Halt

A new administration in the White House comes with quite a few changes, including many directly impacting the automotive industry and how you’ll get around. One of the most surprising is the complete halt of a driverless-car technology federal advisory board. It boasts top brass from automakers like GM and Ford, plus tech companies like Apple.

To be clear, the advisory board hasn’t been dissolved, and its members haven’t resigned in mass, unlike others. Instead, it hasn’t assembled in months to talk about autonomous vehicle tech and policies.

The surprising part is how gung-ho Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao was about doing autonomous vehicles the “right” way. Many thought the administration would fast-track autonomous vehicles, namely because of complaints that the previous administration was being too slow about the process.

Maybe that’s still the plan. Maybe the administration saw this advisory board as a hurdle, instead of a springboard. We’re left guessing, because the White House would only tell tech site Recode that the administration is “reviewing its options.” We’re left to guess what’s happening next, because it seems everyone is being kept in the dark at this point.