Standards, Practices, and Policies

CAT Guidelines

Connected Vehicles

At the forefront of issuing federal guidelines for highway automation is the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), which recently made a request for public commentary on the future of U.S. road surface transportation systems. USDOT issued a second document, “Preparing for the Future of Transportation: Automated Vehicles 3.0 (AV 3.0)”, related to advancements in U.S. transportation, based on input from several stakeholders. The document focuses on three areas; advancing multimodal safety, defining a process to work with the USDOT, and mitigating policy uncertainty.


While the USDOT has emerged as one of the leaders in the policymaking and national conversation related to reaching full highway automation, state departments of transportation (DOTs) have been active in preparing local highways and roads to support CAV technology.


The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) has followed the development of connected and automated vehicle technologies with great interest. The potential to improve productivity while also significantly reducing vehicle crashes holds great promise, but as professionals who work every day to make our roadways safer, we feel there are three issues that must be addressed. Read ATSSA's full policy here.
According to the department's  "Automated Vehicles 3.0 Preparing for the Future of Transportation," the U.S. Department of Transportation will play an active role in the advancement of highway automation.

The policy states, "U.S. DOT’s role in transportation automation is to ensure the safety and mobility of the traveling public while fostering economic growth. As a steward of the Nation’s roadway transportation system, the Federal Government plays a significant role by ensuring that automated vehicles can be safely and effectively integrated into the existing transportation system, alongside conventional vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and other road users. U.S. DOT also has an interest in supporting innovations that improve safety, reduce congestion, improve mobility, and increase access to economic opportunity for all Americans. Finally, by partnering with industry in adopting market-driven, technology-neutral policies that encourage innovation in the transportation system, the Department seeks to fuel economic growth and support job creation and workforce development.
The Federal Highway Administration is currently updating the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which will contain guidelines related to CAVs and their connections to uniform traffic control devices. 
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has been an active participant in the development of CAVs--having submitted a number of letters to other industry organizations that are working to conduct pilot projects and establish a policy framework. 
The the Connected and Automated Transportation (CAT) Coalition website states,"The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) is committed to providing resources for state CEO's and other agencies who will be impacted by these emerging technologies. We've addressed the benefits and impacts of connected vehicles on the emergency response community, advocated for agencies to take up the SPAT Challenge, and addressed connected and automated vehicle related issues in many of our webinars."