Pittsburgh Principles Defines Expectations and Policies for AV Testing

Mayor Bill Peduto of the City of Pittsburgh recently signed an executive order called the Pittsburgh Principles, which defines expectations and policies for autonomous vehicle (AV) testing.

The Principles include:

  • instituting transparent lines of communication between the city and partners testing autonomous vehicles, and annual reports on the implementation of AV policies;
  • promoting automated driving systems that encourage high vehicle occupancy with lower or no emissions, and lower cost and equitable transportation options; and
  • engaging industry leaders and community stakeholders to work together to facilitate the further development and deployment of self-driving technology.

“Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to dramatically improve safety on our city streets and yield transformative benefits to equitable access and quality of life for all in our city. This can only happen when industry, agencies and people understand one another and work together,”  mayor Peduto said. “My hope is that this executive order will not only provide the necessary platform and process to do that for our city, but serve as a model for cities and places across the globe.”

The order establishes the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) as the industry’s main point of contact. DOMI will be responsible for developing guidelines for AV testing on public streets, collaborating with public agency partners, private sector industry, and general public stakeholders in developing future policies, developing guidelines for testing, and reporting back to the public at least annually on progress in testing and policy development. Currently, Aptiv, Argo AI, Aurora Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University, and Uber are all testing AV’s in the city.

Raj Rajkumar, professor and co-director of the General Motors-Carnegie Mellon Vehicular Information Technology Collaborative Research Lab, said, “this order and the guidelines help to protect the public while enabling this technology born in Pittsburgh 35 years ago to be tested and matured right here – attracting jobs, opportunities and talent to the city. We thank the Mayor, the Director of DOMI and the City for their vision and leadership in this regard.”

A copy of the Executive Order is available here.