I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3388 
To provide for information on highly automated driving systems to be made 
available to prospective buyers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2017 
Mr. LATTA (for himself and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for information on highly automated driving 
systems to be made available to prospective buyers. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Designating Each 
Car’s Automation Level Act’’ or the ‘‘DECAL Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INFORMATION ON HIGHLY AUTOMATED DRIVING 
SYSTEMS MADE AVAILABLE TO PROSPECTIVE 
BUYERS. 
(a) RESEARCH.—Not later than 3 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor-
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tation shall complete research to determine the most effec-
tive method and terminology for informing consumers for 
each highly automated vehicle or a vehicle that performs 
partial driving automation about the capabilities and limi-
tations of that vehicle. The Secretary shall determine 
whether such information is based upon or includes the 
terminology as defined by SAE International in Rec-
ommended Practice Report J3016 (published September 
2016) or whether such description should include alter-
native terminology. 
(b) RULEMAKING.—After the completion of the study 
required under subsection (a), the Secretary shall initiate 
a rulemaking proceeding to require manufacturers to in-
form consumers of the capabilities and limitations of a ve-
hicle’s driving automation system or feature for any highly 
automated vehicle or any vehicle that performs partial 
driving automation. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section— 
(A) the term ‘‘automated driving system’’ 
means the hardware and software that are col-
lectively capable of performing the entire dy-
namic driving task on a sustained basis, regard-
less of whether such system is limited to a spe-
cific operational design domain; 
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(B) the term ‘‘dynamic driving task’’ 
means all of the real time operational and tac-
tical functions required to operate a vehicle in 
on-road traffic, excluding the strategic func-
tions such as trip scheduling and selection of 
destinations and waypoints, and including— 
(i) lateral vehicle motion control via 
steering; 
(ii) longitudinal vehicle motion control 
via acceleration and deceleration; 
(iii) monitoring the driving environ-
ment via object and event detection, rec-
ognition, classification, and response prep-
aration; 
(iv) object and event response execu-
tion; 
(v) maneuver planning; and 
(vi) enhancing conspicuity via light-
ing, signaling, and gesturing; 
(C) the term ‘‘highly automated vehicle’’— 
(i) means a motor vehicle equipped 
with an automated driving system; and 
(ii) does not include a commercial 
motor vehicle (as defined in section 31101 
of title 49, United States Code); 
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(D) the term ‘‘vehicle that performs partial 
driving automation’’ does not include a com-
mercial motor vehicle (as defined in section 
31101 of title 49, United States Code); and 
(E) the term ‘‘operational design domain’’ 
means the specific conditions under which a 
given driving automation system or feature 
thereof is designed to function. 
(2) REVISIONS TO CERTAIN DEFINITIONS.— 
(A) If SAE International (or its successor 
organization) revises the definition of any of the 
terms defined in subparagraph (A), (B), or (E) 
of paragraph (1) in Recommended Practice Re-
port J3016, it shall notify the Secretary of the 
revision. The Secretary shall publish a notice in 
the Federal Register to inform the public of the 
new definition unless, within 90 days after re-
ceiving notice of the new definition and after 
opening a period for public comment on the 
new definition, the Secretary notifies SAE 
International (or its successor organization) 
that the Secretary has determined that the new 
definition does not meet the need for motor ve-
hicle safety, or is otherwise inconsistent with 
the purposes of chapter 301 of title 49, United 
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States Code. If the Secretary so notifies SAE 
International (or its successor organization), 
the existing definition in paragraph (1) shall re-
main in effect. 
(B) If the Secretary does not reject a defi-
nition revised by SAE International (or its suc-
cessor organization) as described in subpara-
graph (A), the Secretary shall promptly make 
any conforming amendments to the regulations 
and standards of the Secretary that are nec-
essary. The revised definition shall apply for 
purposes of this section. The requirements of 
section 553 of title 5, United States Code, shall 
not apply to the making of any such conforming 
amendments. 
(C) Pursuant to section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, the Secretary may update 
any of the definitions in subparagraph (A), (B), 
or (E) of paragraph (1) if the Secretary deter-
mines that materially changed circumstances 
regarding highly automated vehicles have im-
pacted motor vehicle safety such that the defini-
tions need to be updated to reflect such cir-
cumstances. 
Æ 
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