The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has issued a formal response to a Department of Transportation (DOT) Request for Information (RFI) on non-traditional and emerging transportation technology to support emerging areas of transportation, including hyperloop and non-traditional tunneling. In December 2019, ANSI issued a call-to-action encouraging its members and constituents to respond to the RFI, included in the November 26, 2019 Federal Register notice.
Last year, the DOT established the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology (NETT) Council, an internal deliberative body tasked with identifying and resolving jurisdictional and regulatory gaps that may impede the deployment of new technology. The response supports DOT's request for "projects, issues, or topics that DOT should consider through the NETT Council, including regulatory models and other alternative approaches for non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies."
ANSI's response highlights how private sector-led standardization activities enable the advancement of emerging technology areas relevant to DOT interests, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and drones. The response also highlights the ANSI-accredited standards developing organizations such as IEEE, SAE, and AIA that develop globally-relevant standards in transportation-related fields. Of note, the response emphasizes that states should rely on robust private sector-led standards in nontraditional technology areas.
"As coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, and as highlighted in its response, ANSI encourages DOT's reliance on voluntary consensus standards and accredited conformity assessment bodies to support non-traditional and emerging transportation technologies," said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. "We stand ready to support DOT and the nation by helping to facilitate private-sector-led standardization solutions to advance these technologies, as appropriate."