Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for Comment; Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)

Published date30 September 2021
Record Number2021-21203
SectionNotices
CourtNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 187 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 187 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 54287-54291]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2021-21203]
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                DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
                National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
                [Docket No. NHTSA-2021-0070]
                Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
                Comment; Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and
                Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
                AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
                Department of Transportation (DOT).
                ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a request for extension of a
                currently approved information collection.
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                SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
                invites public comments about our intention to request approval from
                the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for an extension of a
                currently approved information collection. Before a Federal agency can
                collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval
                from OMB. Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act
                of 1995, before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit
                public comment on proposed collections of information, including
                extensions and reinstatements of previously approved collections. This
                document describes NHTSA's information collection for incident
                reporting requirements for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2
                Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). NHTSA recently requested
                emergency review of its request for approval of this information
                collection and received a six-month approval. NHTSA now intends to
                follow the normal clearance procedures and request OMB's approval for a
                three-year extension of this currently approved information collection.
                DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before November 29, 2021.
                ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
                2021-0070 through any of the following methods:
                 Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
                Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
                for submitting comments.
                 Fax: (202) 493-2251.
                 Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
                of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
                140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
                Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help
                you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
                 Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
                docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be
                posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any
                personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
                below.
                 Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
                comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
                submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
                of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
                complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
                April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
                 Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
                comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street
                address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
                dockets via internet.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
                to background documents, contact Jeff Eyres, Office of Chief Counsel,
                telephone (202) 913-4307, or email at [email protected], U.S.
                Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC
                20590.
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
                (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed
                collection of information to OMB for approval (including a request for
                an extension of a currently approved collection), it must first publish
                a document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period
                and otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies
                concerning each proposed collection of information. The OMB has
                promulgated regulations describing what must be included in such a
                document. Under OMB's regulation (5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must ask
                for public comment on the following: (a) Whether the proposed
                collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
                the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
                have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
                the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
                validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance
                the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
                and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
                those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
                electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
                other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic
                submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA
                asks for public comments on the following proposed extension of a
                currently approved collection of information, for which the agency is
                seeking approval from OMB.
                 Title: Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and
                Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
                 OMB Control Number: 2127-0754.
                 Form Number(s): Form 1612.
                 Type of Request: Approval of an extension of a currently approved
                collection of information.
                 Type of Review Requested: Regular.
                 Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
                approval.
                 Summary of the Collection of Information: The currently approved
                information collection request (ICR) for which NHTSA intends to request
                an extension requires certain manufacturers of motor vehicles and
                equipment and operators of motor vehicles to submit incident reports
                for certain crashes involving Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level
                2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). These crash reporting
                obligations are set forth in NHTSA's Standing General Order 2021-01
                (General Order), which requires those manufacturers and operators named
                in and served with the General Order to report crashes that meet
                specified criteria to NHTSA.\1\
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                 \1\ A copy of the General Order is available on NHTSA's website
                at https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting-levels-driving-automation-2-5.
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                 Specifically, the General Order requires the named manufacturers
                and operators (the reporting entities) to submit reports if they
                receive notice of certain crashes involving an ADS or Level 2 ADAS
                equipped vehicle that
                [[Page 54288]]
                occur on publicly accessible roads in the United States. To be
                reportable, the vehicle, the ADS, or the Level 2 ADAS must have been
                manufactured by the reporting entity or the vehicle must have been
                operated by a reporting entity at the time of the crash, and the ADS or
                Level 2 ADAS must have been engaged at the time of or immediately
                before (https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/autonomous-vehicle-collision-reports/.
                 \4\ NHTSA chose to use the 2019 data instead of using data from
                2020 or an average of the two years because of the impact of the
                COVID-19 health emergency on ADS operations. We note that this is
                overinclusive because reports are only due to NHTSA when the ADS was
                in operation shortly before or during the crash.
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                 Based on NHTSA's review of the California crash reports, NHTSA
                believes that about half of the ADS crashes will be submitted in
                monthly reports, with the other half of crashes being submitted within
                one day. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that 100 ADS crash reports a year
                will be submitted within one day. NHTSA estimates that each ADS crash
                report will take 2 hours to complete and submit, including the time to
                submit updated reports. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the burden per
                respondent to be 2 hours (1 crash report x 2 hours) and 200 hours for
                all respondents (100 ADS crash reports x 2 hours).
                 Updates to incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted
                within ten days. In addition to submitting information on certain ADS
                crashes within one day, manufacturers and operators must also submit
                updated information within ten days. NHTSA
                [[Page 54290]]
                estimates that updating the crash reports will take approximately 1
                hour per report. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that it will take each
                manufacturer approximately 1 hour each year to submit updated ADS crash
                reports and 100 hours for all ADS manufacturers and operators (1 hour x
                100 crash reports).
                 Monthly reports. This information collection requires respondents
                to submit monthly reports. ADS manufacturers and operators must report
                crashes in these monthly reports that are reportable but were not
                required to be submitted within one day. Additionally, both ADS
                manufacturers and operators and ADAS manufacturers will be required to
                submit information in monthly reports if they receive new material or
                materially different information about crashes for which the respondent
                already submitted reports (via one-day reports, 10-day update reports,
                or prior monthly reports). Further, as explained above, manufacturers
                and operators of ADS-equipped vehicles and Level 2 ADAS vehicles are
                required to submit monthly reports even when they do not have any new
                or updated crash reports under Request No. 2 or Request No. 3 to
                submit. If they do not have any reportable information under Requests
                Nos. 2 or 3, their monthly report is a simple certification. To
                estimate the burden of monthly reports, NHTSA considered the burden for
                monthly reports with initial ADS crash reports, monthly reports with
                updates to previously submitted crash reports, and those with
                certifications of no reportable information. NHTSA estimates there will
                be 110 Level 2 ADAS and ADS vehicle manufacturers and operators that
                will be required to submit monthly reports each year, for a total of
                1,320 monthly reports annually.
                 NHTSA estimates that the burden for preparing and submitting
                monthly reports will vary depending on whether the monthly report
                includes no reportable information, new reportable information, or
                updates to previously submitted information. Some of these respondents
                may be required to submit only information about ADS crashes or Level 2
                ADAS crashes and some may be required to submit information about both
                types of crashes. NHTSA estimates that because ADS equipped vehicles
                are often operated in small, controlled fleets, the reporting entities
                will readily know whether there have been any crashes that must be
                reported to NHTSA. Level 2 ADAS vehicles, however, are typically
                produced by large manufacturers and operated by consumers. Therefore,
                NHTSA estimates that each monthly report submitted by an ADS
                manufacturer or operator will take 15 minutes to submit, and for ADS
                manufacturers that have no reportable information to submit, this will
                be the only burden associated with submitting the monthly report. For
                manufacturers that also produce ADAS Level 2 vehicles, NHTSA estimates
                that submitting monthly reports will take 2 hours, which allow the
                manufacturer to verify whether the manufacturers have received any
                reportable information. NHTSA estimates that there will be 90 ADS
                manufacturers and operators and 20 manufacturers of Level 2 ADAS
                vehicles each year (including manufacturers that produce both Level 2
                ADAS vehicles and ADS vehicles). Therefore, NHTSA estimates that
                annually respondents will spend 750 hours preparing and submitting
                monthly reports not including burden associated with providing new or
                updated reportable information (90 ADS manufacturers and operators x 12
                monthly reports x 0.25 hours = 270 hours; 20 Level 2 ADAS manufacturers
                x 12 monthly reports x 2 hours = 480 hours; 270 + 480 = 750).
                 As described above, NHTSA estimates that there will be 200 ADS
                crash reports each year and 100 of those will be required to be
                submitted within one business day. The remaining 100 ADS crash reports
                will be submitted via monthly reports. NHTSA estimates that preparing
                and submitting monthly reports that contain crash reports to take, on
                average, 2 hours to prepare and submit. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the
                burden associated with preparing and submitting ADS crash report
                information that will be submitted in monthly reports to be 200 hours
                (100 monthly reports x 2 hours).
                 In addition to submitting information about new ADS crashes in
                monthly reports, respondents also are required to submit updated
                information in the following month if any new material or materially
                different information about any ADS or Level 2 ADAS incident is
                received. NHTSA estimates that for 20% of ADS crashes first reported in
                a monthly report (i.e., not a one-day report), respondents will need to
                submit updated information. For ADS and Level 2 ADAS crashes that are
                reported within one business day, NHTSA estimates that respondents will
                need to submit updated information in monthly reports for 5% of those
                crashes (these would be updates in addition to those reported within
                ten days). Therefore, NHTSA estimates that 195 monthly reports will
                include updated crash information (100 ADS crashes first reported in
                monthly reports x 0.2 = 20 3,400 Level 2 ADAS one-day crashes x 0.05 =
                170; 100 ADS one-day crashes x 0.05 = 5; 20 + 170 + 5 = 195). NHTSA
                estimates that providing updated information within a monthly report
                will take 1 hour. Therefore, NHTSA estimates the burden for monthly
                reports with updated information to be 195 hours (195 monthly reports x
                1 hour).
                 The total burden associated with monthly reports is estimated to be
                1,145 hours (750 hours + 200 hours + 195 hours), which averages to
                about 10.4 hours per respondent.
                 Training employees on the requirements. In addition to the burden
                associated with preparing and submitting reports, any new reporting
                entities added to the General Order are also expected to incur burden
                associated with training employees on the reporting requirements. As
                explained above, the existing 108 reporting entities named in the
                General Order will not incur this burden during the requested
                extension. NHTSA estimates that there will be an average of seven new
                reporting entities added to the General Order each year during the
                proposed extension, that an average of five of these new reporting
                entities will be ADS manufacturers or operators and that an average of
                two of these new reporting entities will be Level 2 ADAS manufacturers.
                 NHTSA expects that ADS manufacturers and operators normally monitor
                all crashes and, therefore, will not need to train personnel on how to
                respond to this new information collection. NHTSA, however, does expect
                that some Level 2 ADAS manufacturers may need to spend time training
                personnel on the requirements. Although the amount of time may vary by
                manufacturer, NHTSA estimates that, on average, the two Level 2 ADAS
                manufacturers will spend 40 hours on training. Therefore, NHTSA
                estimates the total annual burden for training to be 80 hours (2
                manufacturers x 40 hours).
                 Time to set up an account to submit the reports. NHTSA also
                estimates that new responding entities added to the General Order
                during the proposed extension period will need to set up a new account
                with NHTSA to allow them to submit reports. NHTSA estimates that each
                of the estimated average of 10 responding entities added to the General
                Order annually need to set up new accounts with NHTSA. NHTSA estimates
                that setting up an account will take 2 hours. Therefore, NHTSA
                estimates the total annual burden to be 20 hours.
                [[Page 54291]]
                 NHTSA estimates the total annual burden hours for the seven
                components of this ICR to be 11,745 hours (6,800 hours for initial one-
                day Level 2 ADAS reports, 3,400 hours for updated one-day Level 2 ADAS
                reports, 200 hours for initial one-day ADS reports, 100 hours for
                updated ADS reports, 945 hours for monthly reports, 80 hours for
                training, and 20 hours for setting up new accounts).
                 To calculate the labor cost associated with preparing and
                submitting crash reports and reports, training, and setting up new
                accounts, NHTSA looked at wage estimates for the type of personnel
                involved with these activities. NHTSA estimates the total labor costs
                associated with these burden hours by looking at the average wage for
                architectural and engineering managers in the motor vehicle
                manufacturing industry (Standard Occupational Classification # 11-
                9041). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the average
                hourly wage is $65.62.\5\ The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that
                private industry workers' wages represent 70.4% of total labor
                compensation costs.\6\ Therefore, NHTSA estimates the hourly labor
                costs to be $93.21. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates the total labor cost
                associated with the 11,745 burden hours to be $1,168,760.
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                 \5\ See May 2020 National Industry-Specific Occupational
                Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle
                Manufacturing, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_336100.htm#15-0000 (accessed June 21, 2021).
                 \6\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
                ownership (Mar. 2021), available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t01.htm (accessed June 21, 2021).
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                 Table 1 provides a summary of the estimated burden hours and labor
                costs associated with those submissions.
                 Table 1--Burden Estimates
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                 Estimated
                 Number of burden per
                 Description of information responses response Average Labor cost per Total burden
                 collection component (number of (burden per hourly labor response hours Total labor costs
                 respondents) respondent) cost
                 (hours)
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                Level 2 ADAS one-day reports, 3,400 (20) 2 (340) $93.21 $186.42 6,800 $633,828.
                 initial.
                Level 2 ADAS one-day reports, update 3,400 (20) 1 (170) 93.21 93.21 3,400 316,914.
                ADS one-day reports, initial........ 100 2 93.21 186.42 200 18,642.
                ADS one-day reports, update......... 100 1 93.21 93.21 100 9,321.
                Monthly Reports..................... 1,320 (110) 0.87 (10.4) 93.21 80.85 1,145 106,724.45 (106,724).
                Training............................ 2 (2) 40 (40) 93.21 3,728.40 80 7,456.80 (7,457).
                Setting Up Account.................. 10 (10) 2 (2) 93.21 186.42 20 1,864.20 (1,864).
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                 Total........................... 8,320 (110) .............. .............. .............. 11,745 1,094,751.
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                Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost
                 NHTSA does not currently know whether manufacturers will incur
                additional costs, nor does NHTSA have a basis for estimating these
                costs. However, in the interim, NHTSA believes manufacturers will be
                able to comply with requirements by only incurring labor costs
                associated with the burden hours.
                 Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
                this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
                collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
                the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
                have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
                of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
                enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
                collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
                information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
                techniques or other forms of information technology.
                 Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
                35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29.
                Ann E. Carlson,
                Chief Counsel.
                [FR Doc. 2021-21203 Filed 9-29-21; 8:45 am]
                BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
                

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