I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3404 
To provide for the establishment in the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration of a Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Council. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2017 
Mr. CA´RDENAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the establishment in the National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration of a Highly Automated 
Vehicle Advisory Council. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. HIGHLY AUTOMATED VEHICLE ADVISORY 
COUNCIL. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 
appropriations, not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation 
shall establish in the National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-
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ministration a Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Council 
(hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Council’’). 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members of the Council shall in-
clude a diverse group representative of business, academia 
and independent researchers, State and local authorities, 
safety and consumer advocates, engineers, labor organiza-
tions, environmental experts, a representative of the Na-
tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and other 
members determined to be appropriate by the Secretary. 
Any subcommittee of the Council shall be composed of not 
less than 15 and not more than 30 members appointed 
by the Secretary. 
(c) TERMS.—Members of the Council shall be ap-
pointed by the Secretary of Transportation and shall serve 
for a term of three years. 
(d) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy occurring in the mem-
bership of the Council shall be filled in the same manner 
as the original appointment for the position being vacated. 
The vacancy shall not affect the power of the remaining 
members to execute the duties of the Council. 
(e) DUTIES
AND SUBCOMMITTEES.—The Council 
may form subcommittees as needed to undertake informa-
tion gathering activities, develop technical advice, and 
present best practices or recommendations to the Sec-
retary regarding— 
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(1) labor and employment issues that may be 
affected by the deployment of highly automated vehi-
cles; 
(2) the impact of the development and deploy-
ment of highly automated vehicles on the environ-
ment; 
(3) protection of consumer privacy and security 
of information collected by highly automated vehi-
cles; and 
(4) cabin safety for highly automated vehicle 
passengers, and how automated driving systems may 
impact collision vectors, overall crashworthiness, and 
the use and placement of airbags, seatbelts, anchor 
belts, head restraints, and other protective features 
in the cabin. 
(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The recommendations 
of the Council shall also be reported to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor-
tation of the Senate. 
(g) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—The es-
tablishment and operation of the Council and any sub-
committees of the Council shall conform to the require-
ments of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
App.). 
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(h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—On request of the 
Council, the Secretary shall provide such technical assist-
ance to the Council as the Secretary determines to be nec-
essary to carry out the Secretary’s duties. 
(i) DETAIL OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES.—On the re-
quest of the Council, the Secretary may detail, with or 
without reimbursement, any of the personnel of the De-
partment of Transportation to the Council to assist the 
Council in carrying out its duties. Any detail shall not in-
terrupt or otherwise affect the civil service status or privi-
leges of the Federal employee. 
(j) PAYMENT
AND EXPENSES.—Members of the 
Council shall serve without pay, except travel and per diem 
will be paid each member for meetings called by the Sec-
retary. 
(k) TERMINATION.—The Council and any sub-
committees of the Council shall terminate 6 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act. 
(l) 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-
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less of whether such system is limited to a spe-
cific operational design domain; 
(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 
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