On Thursday, Governor Tom Wolf (D-PA) signed HB 2398, an autonomous vehicle (AV) bill allowing for the testing and full commercial deployment of safe AVs on roads in the Keystone State. Pennsylvania is the 15th state to authorize the deployment of AVs without a human operator, and Gov. Wolf is the third Democratic governor to sign such a bill into law.

“This will make Pennsylvania’s streets safer and help reduce transportation and food gaps faced by low-income communities,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “AVs have the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of fatalities over the course of our lifetime by taking human error off the roads.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), traffic deaths in Pennsylvania rose 9% in 2021 compared to the year before. NHTSA estimates that 90% of accidents are caused by human error.

In Pittsburgh alone, the AV industry provides over 6,300 jobs and an estimated $651 million in labor income, resulting in $34.7 million in state and local tax revenue. Indirect employment created by the industry currently totals about 15,000 jobs.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

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