New regs for Monday: Driverless cars, speed limits, quality control

Monday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new guidelines for driverless cars, speed limits for trucks, and quality controls for farmers.

Here’s what is happening:

Trucks: The Department of Transportation (DOT) is delaying new speed restrictions for trucks.

The Transportation Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed in September to require trucking companies to install speed limiting devices, but the agency is now extending the comment period.

The speed limiting devices would only apply to trucks that weigh more than 26,000 pounds.

The public now has until Dec. 7 to comment.

Driverless cars: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also considering new guidelines for the manufacturers of automated vehicles, better known as driverless cars.

The NHTSA proposed a federal automated vehicles policy in September, and will now hold a public meeting to discuss the best practices manufacturers can use for the “safe design, development, testing, and deployment” of driverless cars.

The meeting will be held on Nov. 10.

Quality control: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing new quality requirements for farmers.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service proposed Friday to update the quality systems verification program.

The public has 60 days to comment.