WHEELS BEGIN TO ROLL

Two key bipartisan senators are ramping up efforts to create standards for testing and deploying autonomous vehicles, with the renewed effort coming after years of roadblocks in the Senate to create a nationwide framework around self-driving cars.

Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) on Tuesday strongly argued for the need to advance legislation around autonomous vehicles in order to decrease traffic fatalities and increase the mobility of the elderly and those with disabilities.

“One of the most important opportunities we can seize is autonomous vehicle technologies,” Peters, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight, and Ports, said during a hearing on the future of automotive mobility Tuesday afternoon.