What does Trump 2.0 mean for autonomous vehicles?

The regulatory and legislative landscape in the US is about to undergo a shift under the Trump Administration. The new president’s pro-business, America-first policies are already dismantling the electric vehicle (EV) supports put in place under Joe Biden, but what do they mean for autonomous vehicles (AVs)?

Fits and starts

“The US Department of Transportation (DoT) has been involved in AV policy in fits and starts over last nine years,” says Hilary Cain, Senior Vice President of Policy at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. Speaking at a recent Partners for Automated Vehicles Education (PAVE) panel, she noted that the last Trump Administration did “quite a lot of work around automated vehicle policy,” and that could resume. Under the first Trump Administration, the US Department of Transportation published the Automated Vehicles Comprehensive Plan, laid out fundamental AV principles in the Automated Vehicles 4.0 roadmap, and expanded the Automated Vehicle Transparency and Engagement for Safe Testing (AV TEST) Initiative from a pilot to a full programme.