Letter to the editor: Pass the BUILD America 250 Act

OPINION:

Last month, President Trump signed a short-term extension of federal surface transportation programs, giving Congress until December to finish a long-term transportation bill.

At the center of that debate are the rules governing autonomous trucking.

Mr. Trump has noted that America leads China in artificial intelligence and must keep it that way, because “whoever wins AI, wins.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put it even more directly: “America must lead the way in transportation innovation. If we don’t, our adversaries will fill the void.”

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Yet current policy forces domestic companies through a regulatory obstacle course that their Chinese competitors don’t face. Commercial trucking is an interstate business, but autonomous trucks can encounter new rules at every state line.

A truck traveling from Texas to Pennsylvania shouldn’t need a new rulebook in every state along the way.

Congress can fix this. The bipartisan BUILD America 250 Act would replace the state-by-state maze with one clear set of strong, transparent federal safety rules, letting American companies build, test and improve their technology here rather than taking their investment elsewhere.

One economic analysis found faster autonomous deployment could increase household purchasing power by $9 billion a year.

This isn’t about eliminating professional drivers. Autonomous trucks make the most sense on long-haul highway routes, where drivers spend days or weeks away from home. Ports, loading docks and city streets will still need drivers and the industry will need more technicians, mechanics, dispatchers and remote-support specialists.

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The BUILD America 250 Act would help workers train for those jobs so that the people who built today’s trucking industry have a place in tomorrow’s.

Autonomous trucks can also save lives. More than 5,000 people die each year in crashes involving large trucks. Automated systems don’t get tired, distracted or impaired. No technology is perfect and it must be tested carefully, but inaction only preserves the status quo.

American companies aren’t waiting. Last year, Aurora Innovation launched the nation’s first commercial driverless heavy-duty trucking service on public roads. To keep leading, the country needs a national framework that lets companies like Aurora expand safely across state lines.

U.S. companies and workers have the ingenuity to beat China. President Trump gave Congress the opportunity. Now lawmakers must clear the roadblocks and get rolling.

GARRET GRAVES

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Member of Congress (Louisiana, 6th District), 2015-2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana