[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60574-60583]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23805]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA-2014-0108]

Request for Comment on Automotive Electronic Control Systems
Safety and Security

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice presents the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration's research program on vehicle electronics and our
progress on examining the need for safety standards with regard to
electronic systems in passenger motor vehicles. The agency undertook
this examination pursuant to the requirements of the Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) Division C, Title I, Subtitle
D, Section 31402, Subsection (a). In addition, and in accordance with
MAP-21, we are seeking comment (through this document) on various
components of our examination of the need for safety

standards in this area. As MAP-21 also requires this agency to report
to Congress on our findings pursuant to this examination, we intend to
submit a report to Congress based in part on our findings from this
examination and public comments received in response to this document.

DATES: You should submit your comments early enough to ensure that
Docket Management receives them no later than December 8, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to the docket number above and be
submitted by one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building
Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting
comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the
Public Participation heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
of this document. Note that all comments received will be posted
without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided.
     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). 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical issues: Mr. David V.
Freeman of NHTSA's Office of Vehicle Crash Avoidance & Electronic
Controls Research at<PHONE_NUMBER> or by email at
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>For legal issues: Mr. Jesse Chang of NHTSA's
Office of Chief Counsel at<PHONE_NUMBER> or by email at
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this document, the agency is presenting
its progress in conducting an examination of the need for safety
standards and seeking comments on its findings thus far. The agency is
directed to conduct this examination and report its findings to
Congress by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-
21).\1\
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    \1\ Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, Public
Law 112-141 (Jul. 6, 2012), Sec.  31402.
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I. MAP-21 and Examining the Need for Electronic System Safety Standards

    In section 31402 of MAP-21, Congress directs this agency to
``complete an examination of the need for safety standards with regard
to electronic systems in passenger motor vehicles.'' \2\ In conducting
this examination, the Act directed the agency to consider various
topics:
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    \2\ Id.
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    (1) Electronic components;
    (2) the interaction of electronic components;
    (3) the security needs for those electronic components to prevent
unauthorized access; and
    (4) the effect of surrounding environments on the electronic
systems.\3\
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    \3\ Id.
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    Finally, the Act also directed the agency to allow for public
comment in conducting this examination.\4\ Upon completing the
examination, the Act also directs the agency to submit a report to
Congress on the highest priority areas for safety with regard to the
electronic systems.\5\
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    \4\ Id.
    \5\ Id.
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    This document presents the agency's progress thus far in conducting
the examination required in section 31402. We illustrate how we are
examining each of the areas described by Congress in section 31402 and
are seeking public comment on that examination. We intend to
incorporate the comments received pursuant to this document in our
report to Congress identifying the need for safety standards.

II. Background

a. NHTSA's Safety Role

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is
responsible for developing, setting, and enforcing regulations for
motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. Many of the agency's
regulations are Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSSs) with
which manufacturers must certify compliance when offering motor
vehicles and motor vehicle equipment for sale in the United States.
NHTSA also studies behaviors and attitudes in highway safety, focusing
on drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and motorcyclists. We identify and
measure behaviors involved in crashes or associated with injuries, and
working with States and other partners develop and refine
countermeasures to deter unsafe behaviors and promote safe
alternatives. Further, the agency provides consumer information
relevant to motor vehicle safety. For example, NHTSA's New Car
Assessment Program (NCAP) provides comparative safety information for
various vehicle models to aid consumers in their purchasing decisions
(e.g., the 5-star crash test ratings). The purpose of the agency's
programs is to reduce motor vehicle crashes and their attendant deaths,
injuries, and property damage.

b. Growth in Automotive Electronics and Their Safety Challenges

    The use of electronics in the design of modern automobiles is a
rapid ongoing progression. The first common use of automotive
electronics \6\ dates back to 1970s and by 2009 a typical automobile
featured over 100 microprocessors, 50 electronic control units, five
miles of wiring and 100 million lines of code.\7\ Use of electronics is
not new. It has enabled safer and more fuel-efficient vehicles for
decades. Electric and hybrid vehicles could not have been developed and
produced without the extensive use of electronics and proven safety
technologies such as electronic stability control could not have been
implemented. Over time, growth of electronics use has accelerated and
this trend is expected to continue as the automotive industry develops
and deploys even more advanced automated vehicle features. This trend
results in increased complexities in the design, testing, and
validation of automotive systems. Those complexities also raise general
concerns in the areas of reliability, security, and safety assurance of
growingly networked vehicles leveraging electronics.
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    \6\ Not including electronics use for radio purposes.
    \7\ ``This car runs on code,'' R.N. Charette, 2009, http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/systems/this-car-runs-on-code.
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    Electronics provide many safety, security, convenience, comfort,
and efficiency functions for vehicle operators through interconnections
and communications with other onboard electronics systems. Common
communications networks and protocols allow for the exchange of
information between sensors, actuators, and the electronic control
units that execute software programs to accomplish specific functions.
A vehicle will typically feature multiple networks.

Those networks may be isolated from one another for a variety of
reasons such as safety and security; however, in other cases different
networks could be interconnected to enable exchange of information
across a broader range of systems. Sharing data across multiple
networks can be safeguarded against adverse influence over safety-
critical systems; however, effectiveness of such approaches is only
anecdotally known today. Growing system complexity and abundance of
design variants even within one manufacturer over model years and
across classes of vehicles pose general concerns over whether existing
processes can ensure their functional safety. Further, anomalies
associated with electronic systems--including those related to software
programming, intermittent electronics hardware malfunctions, and
effects of electromagnetic disturbances--may not leave physical
evidence, and hence are difficult to investigate without a record of
data from the electronic systems.
    While there are challenges, progressively introduced safety
technologies, such as Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), have the
potential to significantly reduce the many thousands of fatalities and
injuries that occur each year as a result of motor vehicle crashes.
Further, continued innovation into more advanced forms of vehicle
automation could address other types of crashes where human driver
error plays a role. In May 2013, NHTSA released a preliminary statement
of policy \8\ concerning automated vehicles where the agency outlined
its planned research into emerging technologies. Given the complexity
of these new systems in terms of the additional electronics software
and hardware needed, electronic control systems safety will continue to
grow in importance as these systems become more commonplace in
production vehicles.
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    \8\ http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/rulemaking/pdf/Automated_Vehicles_Policy.pdf.
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    Along these lines, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Special
Report 308 \9\ by the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) in 2012
identified five challenges for the safety of future electronic control
systems:
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    \9\ The Safety Promise and Challenge of Automotive Electronics,
insights from unintended acceleration, National Research Council of
the National Academies, ISBN 978-0-309-22304-1, 2012.
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     An increased amount of complex software that cannot be
exhaustively tested;
     The highly interactive nature of the electronic control
system--more interactions exist among system components, and the
outcome may be difficult to anticipate;
     The growing importance of human factors consideration in
automotive electronic control system design;
     The potentially harmful interaction with the external
environment including electromagnetic interference; and
     The novel and rapidly changing technology.
    Further, the study offered recommendations to NHTSA on the actions
that the agency could take to meet the five challenges they identified.
These include:
     becoming more familiar with and engaged in standard-
setting and other efforts (involving industry) that are aimed at
strengthening the means by which manufacturers ensure the safe
performance of their automotive electronics systems;
     convening a standing technical advisory panel; undertaking
a comprehensive review of the capabilities that the agency will need in
monitoring for and investigating safety deficiencies in electronics-
intensive vehicles;
     ensuring that Event Data Recorders (EDRs) become
commonplace in new vehicles;
     conducting research on human factors issues informing
manufacturers' system design decisions;
     initiating a strategic planning effort that gives explicit
consideration to the safety challenges resulting from vehicle
electronics that give rise to an agenda for meeting them; and
     making the formulation of a strategic plan a top goal in
NHTSA's overall priority plan.
    In addition to the challenges regarding electronic components and
their ability to function reliably in spite of their complex
interactions, NHTSA believes there are also challenges with regard to
the ability of these systems to remain free of unauthorized access or
malicious attacks. While documented demonstrations 10 11 12
of vehicle hacking to date have required some form of long-term
physical access to the vehicle and our review has not identified any
reported field incidents resulting in a safety concern, we recognize
that lack of occurrence does not imply impossibility. As further
discussed in this document, NHTSA is interested in gathering and
evaluating information from the public (as part of its examination
pursuant to MAP-21) to determine what additional work is needed in this
area.
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    \10\ ``Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile,''
K. Koscher et. al., IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, Oakland,
CA, 2010.
    \11\ ``Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack
Surfaces,'' S. Checkoway et.al., USENIX Security, 2011.
    \12\ ``Adventures in Automotive Networks and Control Units,'' C.
Miller, C. Valasek, DEF CON 21, Las Vegas, NV, 2013.
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c. Industry's Existing Safety Assurance Processes

    Notwithstanding the increased difficulty in the safety assurance of
growingly more complex systems, the automotive industry uses a number
of safety and quality assurance practices in the design of safety
critical systems, which are not unique to but also cover electronic
systems. As documented in a number of publications and also summarized
in the NAS Report, these approaches include the:
     Establishment of system safety requirements;
     assessment of design hazards and risks at component,
function, system, manufacturing and process levels such as by the use
of failure mode and effects analysis \13\ (FMEA) and fault tree
analysis \14\ (FTA);
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    \13\ IEC 60812 standard covers the process for conducting FMEA
analysis.
    \14\ IEC 61025 standard covers the process for conducting FTA
analysis.
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     quality management systems such as ISO/TS 16949,\15\
advanced product quality planning (APQP), and Design for Six Sigma
(DFSS);
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    \15\ ISO/TS 16949:2002 covers particular requirements for the
application of ISO 9001:2000 for automotive production and relevant
service part organizations.
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     design validation and verification testing such as
electrical, environmental, lab, test track and limited field trials;
     variants of production part approval process (PPAP); and
     post deployment field data analysis.
    Further, many automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM)
were actively engaged in the development and revision of the ISO 26262
\16\ standard and some have already started to follow its principles.
As further discussed in this document, NHTSA is interested in gathering
and evaluating information from the public (as part of its examination
pursuant to MAP-21) to determine whether there are emerging gaps in the
functional safety assurance processes of motor vehicles.
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    \16\ International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
standard for Road vehicles--Functional safety.
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d. Existing Safety Process Standards Research Overview

    Sectors of the automotive industry currently consider electronics
safety and cybersecurity as part of their design and quality control
processes. Three process

standards from the broader transportation industry are frequently
mentioned as suitable and preferred methods also used in the design of
road vehicles usually complementing existing safety assurance
practices: ISO 26262, MIL-STD-882E, and DO-178C.
    ISO 26262 is the first automotive industry specific standard \17\
that addresses safety-related systems comprised of electrical,
electronic, and software elements providing safety-related functions in
the design of road vehicles. It is an adaptation to the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61508 \18\ standard to road vehicles.
The first publication of ISO 26262 was in November 2011. This standard
seeks to address various important challenges facing today's road
vehicle technologies including:
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    \17\ Van Eikema Hommes, Q., ``Review and Assessment of the ISO
26262 Draft Road Vehicle--Functional Safety,'' SAE Technical Paper
2012-01-0025, 2012, doi:10.4271/2012-01-0025.
    \18\ IEC 61508 is an international standard for functional
safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-
related systems. This standard considers all of the environments
that could result in an unsafe situation for the subject product,
including shock, vibration, temperature, and electromagnetic fields
and their induced voltages and currents.
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     The safety of new electrical, electronic, and software
functionality in vehicles;
     the trend of increasing system complexity, software
content, and use of electromechanical components; and
     the risk from both systematic failure and random hardware
failure.
    Typical concerns associated with the ISO 26262 standard may include
that the
     Standard could be laborious to apply;
     hardware portions of the standard's coverage may be very
similar to existing industry practices with limited incremental
benefits;
     software portions of the standard may primarily recommend
good systems engineering practices for software safety; and
     assessment of the automotive safety integrity levels
(ASIL) may vary due to subjectivity in the process.
    Due to some of these limitations, existing practices and ISO 262626
are sometimes augmented with more mature system engineering approaches
that are outlined in MIL-STD-882E and DO-178C, particularly on the
software engineering side.
    MIL-STD-882E is the U.S. Department of Defense's systems
engineering approach for eliminating hazards, where possible, and
minimizing risks where those hazards cannot be eliminated. By taking a
systems approach, this standard considers hazards in the entire
lifecycle of systems, products, equipment, and infrastructure including
design, development, test, production, use, and disposal stages. The
principle of this standard is that system safety should follow the
system engineering process, and is the responsibility of all functional
disciplines, not just the system safety professionals. This standard
has gone through a number of revisions in order to adapt to changes in
technology and lessons learned through experience.
    In the aviation industry, DO-178C \19\ is an accepted guidance for
software development. Conformance to this standard means the software
satisfies airworthiness \20\ requirements with an acceptable level of
confidence. As part of the airworthiness certification process, DO-178C
provides guidelines to produce the software lifecycle data needed in
order to support the certification process (e.g. plans for software
development, verification, configuration management, and quality
assurance). It also provides a comprehensive list of considerations in
order to avoid errors and mistakes that could be introduced into
software. DO-178C considers system software development as a subset of
the overall system development process. It assumes that safety-critical
requirements for software systems are defined in the higher-level
system engineering activities and are given at the beginning of the
software development process. Some automotive companies indicated that
the principles outlined in this more mature standard complement the
software standard described in ISO 26262 Part 6,\21\ which is still
evolving.
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    \19\ DO-178C: Software considerations in airborne systems and
equipment certification.
    \20\ Airworthiness of an aircraft refers to meeting established
standards for safe flight.
    \21\ ISO 26262-6:2011-Road vehicles; Functional safety; Part 6:
Product development at the software level.
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    As we discuss further in this document, NHTSA continues to
investigate functional safety approaches for the automotive industry
that may effectively address emerging concerns from the increased use
of electronics and software in the design of automobiles.

e. Available Data \22\ Sources Research Overview
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    \22\ Data for purposes of examining the need for safety
standards with regard to automotive electronic systems does not
include personally identifiable information about the operators.
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    For purposes of determining the capabilities of various datasets to
categorize and rank vehicle electronics safety issues, we considered
vehicle recall data, vehicle owner's questionnaire (VOQ) data, early
warning reporting (EWR) data, and data from our field crash
investigation databases such as National Automotive Sampling System
(NASS), Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), and Special Crash
Investigation (SCI) database. Further, we considered event data
recorder (EDR) capabilities. We briefly describe our findings on these
various data sources in this section. While we believe that the sources
of information available to NHTSA in this regard are useful in helping
the agency begin to identify the highest priority areas with regard to
electronic components (and their interactions), we also believe that
they have certain limitations in ranking safety issues associated with
vehicle electronics. This limitation is mostly driven from the lack of
detailed information regarding specific electronic system failure
types. Hence, in section V. we seek comment from the public as to what
other sources of information and data are available.
    The vehicle recall database is a publicly available resource that
documents safety defects or failures to meet minimum performance
standards set by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) in
a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment. When manufacturers
decide a safety defect or a noncompliance exists in a motor vehicle or
item of motor vehicle equipment they manufactured, they are required to
notify NHTSA and furnish a report with particular information about the
defect or noncompliance, the products involved, and additional
information including the manufacturer's plan to remedy for free the
defect or noncompliance (See U.S.C. 30118 and 49 CFR 573.6).
    Defect and noncompliance notifications and information reports are
reviewed by NHTSA analysts who enter them in the recall database. The
database includes summaries of the defect description, consequences,
and remedy for each recall. The number of vehicle recalls has increased
significantly in the past 20 years, nearly tripling from 1993 (222) to
2013 (654). While the vehicle recall database contains a large amount
of useful information, the database and underlying defect reports were
not intended for detailed or precise statistical analyses of recalls by
typology or root cause related to motor vehicle electronic systems. Any
such analysis requires a manual review and classification process.
However, this work can be limited by the amount of detail contained in
the defect

information reports, which normally provide more general descriptions
of the defect condition and potential safety consequences.
    Vehicle Owner Questionnaires (VOQs) are voluntarily submitted by
consumers to NHTSA to report a complaint in a vehicle or related
equipment item. Each complaint (which is stored in a database and made
available to the public redacted of personal identifiers) identifies
the vehicle type, incident specifics, and includes a free form
narrative to describe details. Complaint content and trends are helpful
for general screening purposes but follow-up is sometimes necessary to
verify and clarify complaints and incident specifics. Approximately
50,000 VOQs were filed in 2013.
    Another source of data is the EWR system. Several data types are
regularly reported to NHTSA by manufacturers. The data include non-
dealer field reports (documents), listings of death/injury claims
(records), and aggregated counts of certain claim types. The quarterly
reporting interval, high level component coding of aggregate figures,
and variability in manufacturer reporting are factors that are
considered when analyzing certain EWR data sets to study safety
critical embedded control systems. Field reports are the only EWR data
sets available for evaluating specific defect conditions, including
incidents in which the problem is intermittent or cannot be duplicated.
    Separately, regarding our national crash databases, the National
Automotive Sampling System (NASS) \23\ is composed of two systems--the
Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) and the General Estimates System
(GES). These are based on cases selected from a sample of police crash
reports. CDS data focus on passenger vehicle crashes, and are used to
investigate crash circumstances, vehicle crash response and occupant
injury and identify potential improvements in vehicle design. The GES
database contains crash statistics on police-reported crashes involving
all types of vehicles. The information comes from samples of police
reports of the estimated six million crashes that occur annually. Each
NASS database is weighted to characterize a nationally representative
sample. Each crash must involve at least one motor vehicle traveling on
a traffic way, which results in property damage, injury, or death, and
it must be obtained from a police report.
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    \23\ http://www.nhtsa.gov/NASS.
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    The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) \24\ is a nationwide
census database on crashes involving fatalities containing similar
information to NASS-GES. These two crash databases consist of
approximately 120 data elements that describe the crash, which are
derived from review of police crash reports by trained data entry
personnel; however, similar to the case with VOQs, there may be
challenges in using these databases to perform detailed analyses for
purposes of ranking emerging electronics concerns because data elements
were not established with this specific purpose in mind. In combination
with other datasets, analysis of GES and FARS can still provide
confirming or augmenting evidence in identifying potential priority
areas in electronics reliability.
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    \24\ http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS.
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    The Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) database
consists of over 1,000 discrete fields of data concerning severe motor
vehicle crashes, including crash reconstruction and medical injury
profiles extending back to 1996. CIREN cases feature detailed data on
occupant injury, vehicle damage and restraint technology and crash
environment, as well as technical or human factors that are related to
injury causation in motor vehicle crashes. Each CIREN case is reviewed
together by both medical and engineering professionals, along with the
crash investigator, to determine injury causation and data accuracy.
    The Special Crash Investigations (SCI) \25\ database contains a
range of data collected from basic data contained in routine police and
insurance crash reports to comprehensive data from special reports by
professional crash investigation teams. Hundreds of data elements
relevant to the vehicle, occupants, injury mechanisms, roadway, and
safety systems are collected for each of the over 100 crashes
designated for study annually. SCI cases are intended to be an
anecdotal data set useful for examining special crash circumstances or
outcomes from an engineering perspective. The SCI program's flexibility
allows for investigations of new emerging technologies related to
automotive safety.
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    \25\ http://www.nhtsa.gov/SCI.
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    Finally, Event Data Recorders \26\ (EDRs) are devices that may be
installed in a motor vehicle to record technical vehicle information
for a few seconds leading up to the crash. For instance, EDRs may
record vehicle speed, engine throttle position, brake use, driver
safety belt status, and air bag warning lamp status. NHTSA has been
using EDRs to support its crash investigation program for several years
and EDR data is routinely incorporated into NHTSA's crash databases.
This type of data could potentially play a role in finding when safety
critical automotive electronics were not functioning properly.
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    \26\ In 2006, NHTSA published a final rule creating a regulation
(49 CFR Part 563, Event Data Recorders (Part 563)) that specifies
the minimum data set that should be collected if a manufacturer
decides to voluntarily install an EDR in their vehicle, along with
requirements for the range and accuracy of EDR data, as well as
requirements for storage and retrieval. Part 563 applies to vehicles
manufactured on or after September 1, 2012. In December 2012, NHTSA
proposed a standard that would mandate EDRs on all vehicles required
to have frontal air bags. (77 FR 74144). No final rule publication
date has been established.
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III. Our Examination of the Areas Identified in MAP-21 to Date

    NHTSA has been actively engaged in research (both internally and
with outside parties) in automotive electronics reliability,
cybersecurity, and emerging technologies in advanced vehicle automation
for the past two years. The agency has established, per MAP-21,\27\ a
Council on ``Vehicle Electronics, Vehicle Software, and Emerging
Technologies'' to coordinate and share information on a broad array of
topics related to advanced vehicle electronics and emerging
technologies. The Council is governed by senior NHTSA management and
the mission of the group is to broaden, leverage, and expand the
agency's expertise in motor vehicle electronics to continue ensuring
that technologies enhance vehicle safety and review and advise on the
research program established over electronics reliability,
cybersecurity and automation topics.
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    \27\ Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, Public
Law 112-141 (Jul. 6, 2012), Sec.  31401(a).
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    With input from the Council, NHTSA has identified and funded
initial research into the following areas:
     Hazard analyses of safety-critical electronic vehicle
control systems, applying Hazard and Operability (HazOp) process
referenced within the ISO 26262 standard as well as System Theoretic
Process Analysis (STPA);
     Examination of process oriented functional safety and
security standards for automotive electronics design and development;
     Automotive cybersecurity concerns, threats, and
vulnerabilities, and potential countermeasures;
     Best practices in safeguarding against cybersecurity risks
in related but in non-automotive industries; and

     Human factors and other emerging concerns associated with
highly automated vehicles.
    Because the agency was already investigating vehicle electronics as
a new and emerging research area for vehicle safety prior to the
passage of MAP-21, the agency has already completed some research and
analyses that address some of the items listed by Congress in section
31402 of MAP-21. Research reports are available on the agency's Web
site \28\ and we expect to publish more reports as projects are
completed over the 2015-16 timeframe. It should be noted that the
research described in this notice represents research already underway
and future research that the agency anticipates undertaking as
resources permit. This section shows our initial progress on the areas
that Congress directed the agency to consider in the examination
required under section 31402. We further request comments on our
research thus far and request specific comments on the issues
identified in the following sections.
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    \28\ Office of Vehicle Crash Avoidance & Electronic Control
Research technical publications are posted on the NHTSA Web site at
http://www.nhtsa.gov/Research/Crash+Avoidance/Office+of+Crash+Avoidance+Research+Technical+Publications.
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a. Electronics Components and the Interaction of Electronic Components

    To examine the potential safety concerns associated with electronic
components and interactions of electronic components, we initiated
research in developing potential approaches to analyzing the automotive
electronic control system architecture and their interconnections. In
conjunction, we reviewed data sources available to NHTSA to assess
datasets that would be useful to analyze for purposes of this
initiative (as documented in section II.e.). Further, we initiated
systematic hazard analyses on select safety-critical automotive control
systems to better understand the vehicle level safety risks. In the
following paragraphs, we provide further details on these research
topics that enable us to begin examining the first two areas stated in
MAP-21 systematically.
    NHTSA is also conducting research to develop an electronics-related
failure-typology.\29\ As part of this research, we are evaluating the
various sources of data described in section II. e. (defect data, crash
databases, etc.) to determine if suitable data exists at this time to
effectively utilize a detailed failure typology that would describe and
categorize the hazards and causes of automotive electronic control
system failures. Through such analysis, the agency would like to
understand how trends in the underlying data for the chosen dataset
change over time as a function of increased use of electronics. We
expect to publish our failure-typology research in 2015 and continue
our research on appropriate datasets into 2016.
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    \29\ Establishing a failure typology refers to developing
categories and data elements that can help the agency (and others)
organize the types of failures relating to electronic control
systems in vehicles. Establishing the typology is an important step
in helping to create a structure to help analyze potential safety
problems relating to electronics in vehicles.
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    Another approach we are taking is to study the automotive
electronic system architecture. Functional safety assurance of modern
automobiles requires a thorough understanding of electronic control
systems' design under a variety of scenarios. These circumstances
include systems' behavior under nominal conditions and also during
failure conditions. Equally important are state-of-the-art capabilities
in detecting failures (diagnostic/prognostic) and fault-tolerant and/or
fail-safe strategies that can prevent errors from resulting in safety
hazards. To this end, NHTSA funded initial research to perform hazard
analyses in select safety-critical automotive control system areas,
such as Accelerator Control Systems (ACS)/Electronic Throttle Control
(ETC), Rechargeable Energy Storage Systems (RESS), and steering and
braking control systems within the context of automatic lane centering
function. These studies apply the Hazard and Operability (HazOp)
process referenced within the ISO 26262 standard as well as System
Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) approach to identify the system level
hazards associated with potential failures in the subject control
systems. The purpose of these studies is to better understand the
critical automotive system functions, failures, and risks and identify
safety goals and requirements. Further, another purpose is to compare
and contrast results obtained from existing hazard analyses techniques.
We are currently prioritizing our hazard analysis research to cover
electronic throttle control, steering control, braking control and
motive power areas. We expect to publish a series of research reports
on hazard analyses starting in 2015.
    A typical automotive electronic control system primarily relies on
the following to perform its intended purposes:
     Sensors (measurements);
     Interpretation of sensed signals (e.g. conversion,
configuration, classification);
     Estimations of parameters (when direct sensing may not be
available, e.g., vehicle speed);
     Actuators (to carry out the intended motive);
     Communication networks (that facilitate electronic
exchange of information between sensors, controllers and actuators);
     Design and programming of the control algorithm
(conditions and respective actions) including:
    a. Design and software coding that implement:
    i. The intended functions; and
    ii. system monitoring and malfunction detection logic; and
    b. supervisory logic that arbitrates between multiple, potentially
conflicting, subsystem commands; and
     Availability of motive power.
    Interactions between electronic components (and distributed
embedded systems) are facilitated primarily by communication networks
and shared use of sensors, software logic and actuators. Prioritization
of competing requests from the various control subsystems and the
driver for safety-critical functions is a potential area of anticipated
future research due to continued proliferation of safety and
convenience functions.
Comments Requested
    (1) NHTSA currently has research underway that is evaluating the
hazards associated with electronic control systems that could impact a
vehicle's steering, throttle, braking and motive power first because
they can impact the fundamental control functions that a driver
performs (such as providing lateral (via steering) and longitudinal
(throttle, braking) control for the vehicle). This means, we would
research safety hazards associated with other automotive electronic
control systems (e.g. safety restraint systems control, power door lock
control, lighting control) later. We seek comment on this approach from
a need for standards research priority stand-point.
    (a) Should the agency pursue alternative approaches to categorize
and prioritize potential electronic control system hazards and impacts
to support new standards?
    (b) For hazard analysis research, the agency is currently pursuing
HazOp and STPA. What other hazard analysis methods should the agency
also consider and why?
    (c) What other automotive electronics should we consider in our
research that could affect the electronics in the safety critical
systems we identified (steering, throttle, brakes, etc.)?

    (2) NHTSA currently has research underway that is evaluating system
performance requirements for critical safety systems. We seek comment
on automotive electronic component and system performance requirements
for control systems that impact throttle, braking, steering, and motive
power management:
    (a) What performance-based tests, methods, and processes are now
available for safety assurance of these types of automotive electronic
control systems?
    (b) What series of performance-based tests should the agency
consider to ensure safe functionality of these types of automotive
electronic control systems under all real-world conditions (e.g.
nominal, expected, non-nominal, and failure conditions)?
    (c) Performance tests would ideally be applicable regardless of any
specific design choices. We surmise that electronic components may have
a wider variety of manufacturer specific tuning and implementation
variations. What types of challenges does this create for designing
performance tests for electronic components? What methods are available
for addressing those challenges?
    (3) NHTSA currently has research underway that is evaluating
diagnostics and prognostics for critical safety systems. We seek
comment on vehicle health monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics
capabilities and fault-tolerant design alternatives for automotive
safety applications.
    (a) What methods are effective in identifying potential anomalous
behavior associated with electronic components, systems, and
communications reliably and quickly?
    (b) What strategies do current vehicles have for activating a
``fail-safe'' mode when critical problems are detected? What types of
problems are classified as ``critical'' and how does the vehicle detect
these problems?
    (c) What state-of-the-art detection and fail-safe response methods
should the agency be aware of and further assess?
    (4) NHTSA currently has research underway that is evaluating
various process standards and their applicability to critical safety
systems. We seek comment on testing, validation, certification, and
regulation alternatives for vehicle electronics to these process
standards:
    (a) What are the pros and cons of utilizing a process--
certification method (e.g., ISO 26262) where the manufacturer is asked
to identify, categorize, and consider potential remedies for
electronics safety problems?
    (i) What approaches should be considered for manufacturers to
demonstrate conformity with voluntary industry process standards such
as ISO 26262?
    (ii) How does one evaluate conformity to a process standard that
uses an engineer's best judgment to identify, categorize, and consider
potential remedies to electronics safety problems?
    (iii) What verification steps may be appropriate to ensure that
potential standards are met?

b. Security Needs To Prevent Unauthorized Access to Electronic
Components

    Cybersecurity, within the context of road vehicles, is the
protection of vehicular electronic systems, communication networks,
control algorithms, software, users, and underlying data from malicious
attacks, damage, unauthorized access, or manipulation.
    NHTSA has been actively researching existing cybersecurity
standards and best practices in automotive and other industries. In
reviewing the practices of other industries in dealing with
cybersecurity issues, NHTSA has identified two general process-oriented
approaches to addressing cybersecurity concerns. The first is design
and quality control processes that focus on cybersecurity issues
throughout the lifecycle of a product. The second is dealing with
cybersecurity issues through establishing robust information sharing
forums such as an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). This
section discusses the agency's findings regarding each of these
strategies.
    In regards to security design and quality assurance processes, the
automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and other stakeholders are
collaborating through SAE International to examine the emerging vehicle
cybersecurity concerns and considering actions that could include the
development of voluntary standards, guidelines, or best practices
documents.
    While there may be no readily-available automotive cybersecurity
standards at this time, NHTSA's research identified general
cybersecurity safeguarding approaches that can potentially be examined
and adapted for use in the automotive industry. For example, the
cybersecurity framework \30\ developed and published by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) treats cybersecurity as a
process integrated into the system, component, and device lifecycle.
The guidelines referenced in this framework could allow the automotive
industry to develop a security program for modern-day automobiles
analogous to information security programs in place for information
technology (IT) systems in general. Similarly, system security
engineering could potentially be incorporated into the design process
in a way similar to system safety engineering as specified in ISO 26262
and ``E-safety vehicle intrusion protected applications (EVITA).'' \31\
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    \30\ ``Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure
Cybersecurity,'' Version 1.0, NIST, 2014. Accessible at http://www.nist.gov/cyberframework/upload/cybersecurity-framework-021214.pdf.
    \31\ EVITA is a project co-funded by the European Union that
aims to design, verify, and prototype architecture for automotive
on-board networks where security-relevant components are protected
against tampering and sensitive data are protected against
compromise (http://www.evita-project.org/).
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    In regards to information sharing mechanisms, NHTSA studied \32\
the ISAC model for safeguarding against cybersecurity risks and threats
in other industries such as financial services, information technology,
and communications. Our initial analyses indicate that an automotive
sector specific information sharing forum, such as an ISAC, is
beneficial to pursue. It could advance the cybersecurity awareness and
countermeasure development effectiveness among public and private
stakeholders. ISACs have a unique capability to provide comprehensive
inter- and intra-sector coverage to share critical information
pertaining to sector analysis, alert and intelligence sharing, and
incident management and response. Our research across other industries
indicates that prevention of cyber-threats would be impractical if not
impossible. This fact and the successful use of ISACs in other industry
sectors suggest that it might also be effective for the auto industry
to have mechanisms in place to expeditiously exchange information
related to cyber-threats, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures among
industry stakeholders. Such a mechanism would enhance the ability of
the automotive sector to prepare for, respond to, and recover from
cyber threats, vulnerabilities and incidents. Related to the sector-
wide cybersecurity information sharing topic, the Alliance of
Automotive Manufacturers (Alliance) and the Association of Global
Automakers (Global Automakers)

wrote \33\ to NHTSA in July 2014 to inform about the new cybersecurity
initiative they are undertaking with the goal of establishing a
voluntary automobile industry sector information sharing and analysis
center or other comparable program. In response,\34\ NHTSA encouraged
Alliance and Global Automakers (as well as automotive original
equipment manufacturers) to proceed expeditiously with the outlined
process and expressed Agency's hope that their plan would target a date
in 2015 for an automotive industry ISAC to become operational.
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    \32\ The study report ``An assessment of the information sharing
and analysis center (ISAC) model'' can be accessed at the
``Automotive Cybersecurity Topics and Publications'' docket: NHTSA-
2014-0071.
    \33\ Correspondence related to this initiative can be viewed in
the ``Automotive Cybersecurity Topics and Publications'' docket:
NHTSA-2014-0071.
    \34\ Id.
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    Security process standards and information sharing forums fit in a
larger, more comprehensive automotive cybersecurity assurance approach.
In general terms, there are four major pieces to the agency's research
approach:
    1. Preventive methods and techniques: This group of techniques
would seek to harden the design of automotive electronic systems and
networks such that it would be difficult for malicious attacks to take
place in newer generation systems. Deployment and use of structured
security process standards could help identify vulnerabilities such
that necessary design improvements can be identified and implemented.
These vulnerabilities include possible entry points through accessible
physical interfaces such as the OBD-II port, USB ports, CD/DVD players;
short range wireless interfaces, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Dedicated
Short Range Communications (DSRC); and long-range wireless interfaces
such as cellular or satellite-based connectivity to the vehicle.
Examples of design improvements include potential use of:
    a. Encryption and/or authentication on communication networks;
    b. different communication approaches or protocols; segmentation/
isolation of safety-critical system control networks;
    c. strong authentication controls for remote access to vehicles;
    d. gateway controls between interfaced vehicle networks; etc.

Other approaches in the field of prevention research include methods
such as those investigated in the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency's (DARPA) high-assurance cyber military systems (HACMS) \35\
program. The primary intents of this category of activities are (1) to
significantly reduce the probability of cyber risks; and (2) to limit
the impact of a potential cybersecurity breach (e.g. one vehicle as
opposed to an entire fleet). NHTSA initiated applied research into
vulnerability assessment and preventive type measures in 2014 and
expects to publish reports starting in 2016.
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    \35\ http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/I2O/Programs/High-Assurance_Cyber_Military_Systems_(HACMS).aspx.
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    2. Real-time intrusion detection methods: Total security through
preventive measures may not be realistically achievable. Thus, as a
complement to the preventative measures, detecting intrusions into the
system through communications networks would provide additional
protection. A cybersecurity breach would take place on or through a
communication network. From an intrusion detection perspective,
vehicular network communications are considered fairly predictable and
well-suited for real-time monitoring to detect anomalous activity with
respect to nominal expected message flows. We are initiating research
into this type of technologies in the automotive sector.
    3. Real-time response methods: Once a potential intrusion is
detected, the strategies to mitigate its potential harmful impacts
would also need to be designed in a practical manner. Depending on the
potential risks and level of intrusion detection confidence, the
vehicle architecture could be designed to take a variety of actions
such as: temporarily or permanently shut down the communication
network(s) (at the potential cost of disabling various safety
functions); inform the driver; record and transmit data before-and-
after trigger point for further analysis and counter-measure
development, etc. The purpose of this category of cybersecurity defense
is to mitigate the potential harmful consequences of detected anomalous
activity on the vehicle experiencing the potential breach. We expect to
develop further research into this category of methods in 2016.
    4. Treatment methods: While the previous paragraph discussed
response methods (deal with ensuring fail-safe operation of the vehicle
where an intrusion is detected), treatment methods deal with
distributing information related to the subject risk to other potential
vulnerable entities even before the compromise may be experienced by
them. Treatment methods involve timely information extraction from
impacted parties, their analysis, development of countermeasures and
timely dissemination to all relevant stakeholders (such as through an
ISAC). This approach allows for design of stronger preventive methods
in future generations of electronics. As outlined earlier, automotive
industry (through Alliance and Global Automakers) is actively exploring
information sharing alternatives related to automotive cybersecurity
and NHTSA is closely monitoring activities related to this initiative.
Comments Requested
    (1) We seek comment on any technical areas of automotive
cybersecurity that the agency could focus on in its further research.
    (a) Specifically, are there particularly vulnerable or strong
design architectures that the agency should further examine?
    (b) What additional types of techniques (either in real world
occurrences or as a part of research) have persons used to gain
unauthorized access to vehicle systems? What types of systems were such
persons able to gain access to?
    (c) What is the public's view on the differences in cybersecurity
risks associated with an intrusion that requires use of in-cab physical
interfaces (e.g. OBD-II port) versus close-proximity wireless
interfaces (e.g. Bluetooth) versus long-range wireless means (e.g.
cellular/satellite links)?
    (2) We seek comment on security process standards.
    (a) What security process standard alternatives are available? How
do these standards differ and are there standards that are more
suitable for application to the automotive industry versus others?
    (b) Could security assurance be handled within a modified framework
of existing safety process standards (such as FMEAs, FTAs, ISO 26262)
or does ``design for security'' require its own process?
    (3) We seek comments on security performance standards. In contrast
to the process standards (that establish methods for considering
cybersecurity risks during product design), we use the term
``performance standard'' to mean standards that evaluate the
cybersecurity performance (or resilience) of a system after production
of the final product.
    (a) What types of metrics are available to test a vehicle's ability
to withstand a cyber-attack?
    (b) Are there any common design characteristics that help ensure a
minimum level of security from unauthorized access to a vehicle's
electronic control systems?
    (c) What performance-based tests, methods, and processes are
available for security assurance of automotive electronic control
systems?

    (d) Are there hardware, software, watchdog algorithm, etc.
requirements or criteria that would help differentiate algorithm
designs that are more secure against cyber-attack?

c. Effects of the Surrounding Environment on Electronic Component
Performance

    In addition to malicious interference that may be artificially
introduced (as covered under cybersecurity in section III.b.), the
surrounding natural environment could affect the electronic components
and systems in three primary ways:
    1. By creating conditions that could cause electronic components to
fail prematurely;
    2. By creating conditions that could result in electronic control
systems to act in unintended ways; and
    3. By creating conditions for electronic sensors or systems to
perceive the environment differently than reality.
    Effects of the environment potentially causing electronic
components to fail prematurely, such as through moisture, heat and
corrosion, are typically handled by fail-safe strategies. Monitoring
algorithms can detect sensors and components that fail and operate
outside of the intended range and inform control algorithms to operate
in fail-safe mode. Manufacturers take placement and environmental
exposure into account in the design of electromechanical components.
    Examples of the environment potentially causing electronic control
systems to act in unintended ways are electromagnetic interference
(EMI) and potential build-up of low-resistance paths on a circuit-
board, such as a tin whisker.\36\ OEMs very commonly perform
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing on their platforms in
accordance with SAE International \37\ and ISO \38\ standards. NHTSA
has investigated EMI effects on an electronic control system in a
recent investigation. In 2010, NHTSA and National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) conducted EMC testing as part of the inquiry into
whether Unintended Acceleration (UA) was related to the electronic
throttle control system in Toyota vehicles. In this study, EMC testing
at exposure levels well above existing certification standards did not
produce open throttle.\39\
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    \36\ A crystalline, hair-like structure of tin that can form on
a tin-finished surface. (taken from NAS Report).
    \37\ SAE J551, SAE J1113.
    \38\ ISO 7637, ISO 10605, ISO 11451, ISO 11452.
    \39\ ``Technical Support to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) on the Reported Toyota Motor Corporation
(TMC) Unintended Acceleration (UA) Investigation'', 2011, NASA.
Section 6.8 of this report discusses the EMC testing and the full
report can be accessed at http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nvs/pdf/NASA-UA_report.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Among the risks with EMI is for the electronic control unit's
memory settings to be altered unintentionally. This could change the
way the system behaves especially if the EMI's influence is not
detected. Manufacturers utilize various methods to prevent unintended
EMI influence, such as by retaining safety critical system parameters
in more than one memory location (such that a random alteration could
be detected and system shut down with warning). Formation of conductive
tin whiskers on a circuit board could potentially result in low
resistance paths and unintended system behavior, particularly if they
cause a short between circuits resulting in unintended activation of an
actuator. Most such issues result in electrical faults and safe shut-
down of corresponding functions. Manufacturers use various techniques
to mitigate the concern including changes to the manufacturing process,
addition of elements like copper and nickel, and the use of surface
coatings. Further, circuit board design takes into account the
possibility of circuit-board shorts in trace placement.
    Another possibility is for the environment to impact the advanced
sensors (such as radar, lidar, cameras, GPS, etc.) on a contemporary
vehicle in a way that could result in unintended engagement or non-
operational status of system functions. To mitigate this risk,
manufacturers utilize various forms of sensor fusion technologies to
reduce reliance on any single sensor signal for safety-critical
functions.
    Related to 5.9 GHz DSRC, NHTSA is initiating research into
analyzing potential communication interference impacts of devices that
operate on and in neighboring spectrums of the DSRC band.\40\ NHTSA
expects to complete this study in 2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \40\ DSRC band: 5.850-5.925 GHz.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments Requested
    (1) NHTSA has reviewed the state-of-the art with respect to
environmental conditions and vehicle electronics. What other ways can
the environment impact electronic system performance other than the
ways that we have considered, above?
    (2) NHTSA has done some testing on interference issues. We seek
comment in the area of EMI/EMC.
    (a) What could the agency do to further assess the electromagnetic
interference (EMI) susceptibility impacts of growing use of electronics
on automotive system safety and assess the adequacy of existing
voluntary standards?
    (b) Are there known EMI susceptibility differences in vehicles
designed and sold in the U.S. versus in regions where EMC may be
explicitly regulated?
    (3) We seek comment in the area of the environment's potential
impact on advanced automotive sensors.
    (a) Are any particular sensing technologies more susceptible or
less susceptible to such effects (including EMC and other environmental
effects such as moisture, corrosion, etc.)?

IV. Additional Comments Requested

    In addition to the comments requested in regards to the specific
topics discussed above, we are also seeking comment on other general
issues relating to electronic component safety and cybersecurity.
    (1) One issue that we seek comment is the potential for voluntary
safety process standards to help address challenges introduced by
expanding use of electronics in automotive applications. In section
II.d. above, we discuss the various design and quality control
processes that the industry already uses to assess the safety and
cybersecurity of their electronic components (e.g., ISO 26262).
    (a) We seek public comment on the degree to which this type of
safety process standard can provide an adequate level of protection
from electronic component failures or potential cybersecurity breaches.
    (i) What voluntary industry standards are best able to address
safety assurance of electronics control system design for motor
vehicles?
    (ii) Specifically, what elements of the voluntary industry
standards are best able to address electronics control systems and
cybersecurity issues in motor vehicles?
    (iii) What other standards than those described in this document
are relevant for the agency to consider?
    (b) What types of concerns with regard to electronic components
safety and cybersecurity would not be addressed by voluntary safety
process standards?
    (i) What other standards are available that could address this type
of safety concern?
    (ii) What software development, validation and safety assurance
methods and processes are suitable for safety critical automotive
control systems?
    (c) Are existing process standards such as ISO 26262, IEC 60812,
IEC 61025, etc, suitable to address electronic

control system design challenges for more advanced forms of vehicle
automation?
    (2) Another issue that we seek comment on is in regards to the
available information and data sources for identifying and
understanding the issues related to electronic component reliability
and cybersecurity. We recognize that much of the data available to the
agency captures retrospective data. Thus, the traditional sources of
information available to the agency have various limitations in this
rapidly-developing area of automotive technology. Information that
shows historic data on electronic component issues may not necessarily
give an accurate prediction of what future electronic component
reliability and cybersecurity issues can be. We seek comment on the
data sources that are identified for potential consideration in the
categorization of priority focus areas for electronics reliability.
    (a) We are especially interested in identifying any potential data
sources that could assist the agency in identifying potential emerging
electronic component failures in vehicles in a timely manner.
    (b) Has the agency considered all the relevant data on this
subject? What additional sources of information could the agency
consider?
    (3) We seek comment on what other information sources or strategies
are available that can enhance the ability to detect potential
electronics system related concerns in a timely fashion. What methods
are available to improve traceability of potential electronic control
system malfunctions?

V. Public Participation

How do I prepare and submit comments?

    Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your
comments are filed correctly in the docket, please include the docket
number of this document in your comments.
    Your comments must not be more than 15 pages long (49 CFR 553.21).
NHTSA established this limit to encourage you to write your primary
comments in a concise fashion. However, you may attach necessary
additional documents to your comments. There is no limit on the length
of the attachments.
    Please submit one copy (two copies if submitting by mail or hand
delivery) of your comments, including the attachments, to the docket
following the instructions given above under ADDRESSES. Please note, if
you are submitting comments electronically as a PDF (Adobe) file, we
ask that the documents submitted be scanned using an Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) process, thus allowing the agency to search and copy
certain portions of your submissions.

How do I submit confidential business information?

    If you wish to submit any information under a claim of
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete
submission, including the information you claim to be confidential
business information, to the Office of the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, at the
address given above under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. In addition,
you may submit a copy (two copies if submitting by mail or hand
delivery), from which you have deleted the claimed confidential
business information, to the docket by one of the methods given above
under ADDRESSES. When you send a comment containing information claimed
to be confidential business information, you should include a cover
letter setting forth the information specified in NHTSA's confidential
business information regulation (49 CFR Part 512).

Will the agency consider late comments?

    NHTSA will consider all comments received before the close of
business on the comment closing date indicated above under DATES. To
the extent possible, the agency will also consider comments received
after that date.

How can I read the comments submitted by other people?

    You may read the comments received at the address given above under
Comments. The hours of the docket are indicated above in the same
location. You may also see the comments on the Internet, identified by
the docket number at the heading of this notice, at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Please note that, even after the comment closing date, NHTSA will
continue to file relevant information in the docket as it becomes
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly,
the agency recommends that you periodically check the docket for new
material.
    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 http://www.dot.gov/privacy.html.

    Authority:  Sec. 31402, Pub. L. 112-141.

    Issued in Washington, DC under authority delegated in 49 CFR
part 1.95.
Nathaniel Beuse,
Associate Administrator for Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2014-23805 Filed 10-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P


[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 118 (Thursday, June 19, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35220-35222]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14341]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2000-7363; FMCSA-2002-12294; FMCSA-2004-17195; FMCSA-
2005-23099; FMCSA-2007-0071; FMCSA-2009-0011; FMCSA-2009-0303; FMCSA-
2010-0082; FMCSA-2011-0366; FMCSA-2011-0379; FMCSA-2012-0104]

Qualification of Drivers; Exemption Applications; Vision

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of renewal of exemptions; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the
vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for
20 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals
from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not
compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these
exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to
or greater than the level of safety maintained without the exemptions
for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

DATES: This decision is effective July 12, 2014. Comments must be
received on or before July 21, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) numbers: Docket No. [Docket No. FMCSA-2000-
7363; FMCSA-2002-12294; FMCSA-2004-17195; FMCSA-2005-23099; FMCSA-2007-
0071; FMCSA-2009-0011; FMCSA-2009-0303; FMCSA-2010-0082; FMCSA-2011-
0366; FMCSA-2011-0379; FMCSA-2012-0104], using any of the following
methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Instructions: Each submission must include the Agency name and the
docket number for this notice. Note that DOT posts all comments
received without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act
heading below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. The Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) is
available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want
acknowledgment that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgement
page that appears after submitting comments on-line.
    Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.).
You may review DOT's Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket
Management System (FDMS) published in the Federal Register on January
17, 2008 (73 FR 3316).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine M. Papp, Chief, Medical
Programs Division,<PHONE_NUMBER><EMAIL_ADDRESS>FMCSA,
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W64-224,
Washington, DC 20590-0001. Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Under 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315, FMCSA may renew an exemption
from the vision requirements in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10), which applies to
drivers of CMVs in interstate commerce, for a two-year period if it
finds ``such

exemption would likely achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to
or greater than the level that would be achieved absent such
exemption.'' The procedures for requesting an exemption (including
renewals) are set out in 49 CFR part 381.

Exemption Decision

    This notice addresses 20 individuals who have requested renewal of
their exemptions in accordance with FMCSA procedures. FMCSA has
evaluated these 20 applications for renewal on their merits and decided
to extend each exemption for a renewable two-year period. They are:

Paul J. Bannon (DE)
Clarke C. Boynton (MA)
Walter M. Brown (SC)
Clare H. Buxton (MI)
Chadwick S. Chambers (AL)
William C. Dempsey, Jr. (MA)
Miguel H. Espinoza (CA)
Billy R. Gibbs (MD)
Clyde J. Harms (IL)
Ricky P. Hastings (TX)
Gary McKown (WV)
Leland B. Moss (VT)
Jack W. Murphy, Jr. (OH)
Markus Perkins (LA)
Michael J. Rankin (OH)
Terry L. Rubendall (PA)
Kenneth D. Sisk (NC)
Anthony T. Smith (MI)
Steven C. Thomas (AR)
Robert D. Williams (LA)

    The exemptions are extended subject to the following conditions:
(1) That each individual has a physical examination every year (a) by
an ophthalmologist or optometrist who attests that the vision in the
better eye continues to meet the requirements in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10),
and (b) by a medical examiner who attests that the individual is
otherwise physically qualified under 49 CFR 391.41; (2) that each
individual provides a copy of the ophthalmologist's or optometrist's
report to the medical examiner at the time of the annual medical
examination; and (3) that each individual provide a copy of the annual
medical certification to the employer for retention in the driver's
qualification file and retains a copy of the certification on his/her
person while driving for presentation to a duly authorized Federal,
State, or local enforcement official. Each exemption will be valid for
two years unless rescinded earlier by FMCSA. The exemption will be
rescinded if: (1) The person fails to comply with the terms and
conditions of the exemption; (2) the exemption has resulted in a lower
level of safety than was maintained before it was granted; or (3)
continuation of the exemption would not be consistent with the goals
and objectives of 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315.

Basis for Renewing Exemptions

    Under 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(1), an exemption may be granted for no
longer than two years from its approval date and may be renewed upon
application for additional two year periods. In accordance with 49
U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315, each of the 20 applicants has satisfied the
entry conditions for obtaining an exemption from the vision
requirements (65 FR 45817; 65 FR 77066; 67 FR 46016; 67 FR 57627; 68 FR
54775; 69 FR 17263; 69 FR 31447; 69 FR 51346; 70 FR 53412; 71 FR 4194;
71 FR 13450; 71 FR 27033; 71 FR 50970; 72 FR 62896; 73 FR 6242; 73 FR
15255; 73 FR 16950; 73 FR 28186; 73 FR 75807; 74 FR 43221; 74 FR 60022;
75 FR 4623; 75 FR 9477; 75 FR 9481; 75 FR 20882; 75 FR 22178; 75 FR
25917; 75 FR 25918; 75 FR 25919; 75 FR 27624; 75 FR 39727; 75 FR 39729;
76 FR 55467; 77 FR 5874; 77 FR 15184; 77 FR 17117; 77 FR 23797; 77 FR
23800; 77 FR 27847; 77 FR 27850; 77 FR 36338; 77 FR 38386). Each of
these 20 applicants has requested renewal of the exemption and has
submitted evidence showing that the vision in the better eye continues
to meet the requirement specified at 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10) and that the
vision impairment is stable. In addition, a review of each record of
safety while driving with the respective vision deficiencies over the
past two years indicates each applicant continues to meet the vision
exemption requirements.
    These factors provide an adequate basis for predicting each
driver's ability to continue to drive safely in interstate commerce.
Therefore, FMCSA concludes that extending the exemption for each
renewal applicant for a period of two years is likely to achieve a
level of safety equal to that existing without the exemption.

Request for Comments

    FMCSA will review comments received at any time concerning a
particular driver's safety record and determine if the continuation of
the exemption is consistent with the requirements at 49 U.S.C. 31136(e)
and 31315. However, FMCSA requests that interested parties with
specific data concerning the safety records of these drivers submit
comments by July 21, 2014.
    FMCSA believes that the requirements for a renewal of an exemption
under 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315 can be satisfied by initially
granting the renewal and then requesting and evaluating, if needed,
subsequent comments submitted by interested parties. As indicated
above, the Agency previously published notices of final disposition
announcing its decision to exempt these 20 individuals from the vision
requirement in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10). The final decision to grant an
exemption to each of these individuals was made on the merits of each
case and made only after careful consideration of the comments received
to its notices of applications. The notices of applications stated in
detail the qualifications, experience, and medical condition of each
applicant for an exemption from the vision requirements. That
information is available by consulting the above cited Federal Register
publications.
    Interested parties or organizations possessing information that
would otherwise show that any, or all, of these drivers are not
currently achieving the statutory level of safety should immediately
notify FMCSA. The Agency will evaluate any adverse evidence submitted
and, if safety is being compromised or if continuation of the exemption
would not be consistent with the goals and objectives of 49 U.S.C.
31136(e) and 31315, FMCSA will take immediate steps to revoke the
exemption of a driver.

Submitting Comments

    You may submit your comments and material online or by fax, mail,
or hand delivery, but please use only one of these means. FMCSA
recommends that you include your name and a mailing address, an email
address, or a phone number in the body of your document so that FMCSA
can contact you if there are questions regarding your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and
in the search box insert the docket numbers FMCSA-2000-7363; FMCSA-
2002-12294; FMCSA-2004-17195; FMCSA-2005-23099; FMCSA-2007-0071; FMCSA-
2009-0011; FMCSA-2009-0303; FMCSA-2010-0082; FMCSA-2011-0366; FMCSA-
2011-0379; FMCSA-2012-0104 and click the search button. When the new
screen appears, click on the blue ``Comment Now!'' button on the right
hand side of the page. On the new page, enter information required
including the specific section of this document to which each comment
applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. If
you submit your comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing. If you submit comments by mail and would

like to know that they reached the facility, please enclose a stamped,
self-addressed postcard or envelope.
    We will consider all comments and material received during the
comment period and may change this proposed rule based on your
comments. FMCSA may issue a final rule at any time after the close of
the comment period.

Viewing Comments and Documents

    To view comments, as well as any documents mentioned in this
preamble, To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and in the search box insert the docket number
FMCSA-2000-7363; FMCSA-2002-12294; FMCSA-2004-17195; FMCSA-2005-23099;
FMCSA-2007-0071; FMCSA-2009-0011; FMCSA-2009-0303; FMCSA-2010-0082;
FMCSA-2011-0366; FMCSA-2011-0379; FMCSA-2012-0104 and click ``Search.''
Next, click ``Open Docket Folder'' and you will find all documents and
comments related to the proposed rulemaking.

    Issued on: June 9, 2014.
 Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-14341 Filed 6-18-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P


[Federal Register: November 20, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 225)]
[Notices]
[Page 70342]
[DOCID:fr20no08-54]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3015-012]

Four Dam Pool Power, Agency Southeast Alaska Power Agency; Notice
of Application for Transfer of License, and Soliciting Comments,
Motions to Intervene, and Protests

November 14, 2008.
    On October 6, 2008, Four Dam Pool Power Agency (Transferor) and
Southeast Alaska Power Agency (Transferee) filed an application, for
transfer of license of the Lake Tyee Project, located on Tyee Creek in
Wrangell-Peterson, Alaska.
    Applicants seek Commission approval to transfer the license for the
Four Dam Pool Power Agency to Southeast Alaska Power Agency.
    Applicant Contact: Mr. William H. Prentice, Ater Wynne LLP, 222 SW
Columbia Street, Suite 1800, Portland, OR 97201-6618, phone (503) 226-
1191
    FERC Contact: Robert Bell,<PHONE_NUMBER>.
    Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene: 30 days from
the issuance of this notice. Comments, motions to intervene, and
notices of intent may be filed electronically via the Internet. See 18
CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web
site under the ``e-Filing'' link. If unable to be filed electronically,
documents may be paper-filed. To paper-file, an original and eight
copies should be mailed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. For
more information on how to submit these types of filings please go to
the Commission's Web site located at http://www.ferc.gov/filing-
comments.asp. More information about this project can be viewed or
printed on the ``eLibrary'' link of the Commission's Web site at http:/
/www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp. Enter the docket number (P-
3015-012) in the docket number field to access the document. For
assistance, call toll-free 1-866-208-3372.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-27561 Filed 11-19-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P