Latta Targeting Draft Autonomous Vehicles Legislation Before August Recess

House Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said Thursday he plans to circulate draft legislation on autonomous vehicle technology regulation by the start of the August recess. Latta committed earlier this year to working on autonomous vehicle legislation and his subcommittee had hearings on issues that might need to be addressed (see 1702140042 and 1703280005). House Digital Commerce wants to “make sure that we get the right things” into the legislation and is prioritizing work on the bills, amid concerns that states and municipalities could act on their own in a way that creates a regulatory patchwork for the autonomous vehicle industry, Latta said during a Telecommunications Industry Association event. The legislation will reflect the subcommittee's focus on a “soft touch” legislative approach on emerging technologies (see 1702080078), Latta said. The panel also wants to ensure any legislation looks at autonomous vehicle issues “over the horizon” five-to-10 years into the future since that's how the private sector examines such issues, he said. The subcommittee also wants to ensure it's “helping people and not hindering” on cybersecurity issues involving emerging technologies, though it recognizes the rising threat caused by distributed denial-of-service attacks and ransomware as seen in the WannaCry attacks (see 1705120055 and 1705150008), Latta said.