The US Department of Transport has launched a new voluntary programme to collect data from autonomous vehicle tests. The programme is a nationwide initiative to bring together data from all the different companies involved in AV tests across the United States. Some nine companies and some eight states have agreed to participate from the outset.

At present, data collection of autonomous vehicles tests is done at state level. California has the most comprehensive requirements for reporting self driving vehicle test data. The state requires licensing, and obligatory reporting of a range of data points, including incidents and human driver interventions.  Other states have more relaxed rules than California.

President Obama’s administration initiated a voluntary safety reporting scheme. The guidelines were to Obama’s voluntary reporting scheme were relaxed by the Trump administration.

The new Federal initiative promises to publish what companies submit on a central website. However, data disclosure appears to be a companies’ own discretion.Companies that have already joined the scheme include: Waymo, Uber, Toyota, Cruise, Fiat Chrysler, Beep, Local Motors, Navya, and Nuro. States that are expected to join the scheme include: California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.