Washington — Two pieces of legislation aimed at boosting advanced technology vehicles moved ahead Thursday in the U.S. Senate.
The Vehicle Innovation Act, which promotes investments in research and development of cleaner vehicle and advanced safety technologies that will create more fuel-efficient vehicles, was included in the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The Vehicle Innovation Act reauthorizes the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Program, which promotes partnerships to conduct research and development to improve fuel efficiency in vehicles.
The legislation authorizes $313.6 million in funding for the next budget year, and a 4 percent increase annually through 2020, providing a consistent growth in funding to keep up with emerging technologies. But separately legislation must pass approving that budget.
The authority includes research and investment in vehicle power technologies like hybrid, battery, electric and natural gas.
The measure is sponsored by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing.
The legislation includes provisions to include safety technologies like vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications systems, “which have the potential to dramatically reduce traffic accidents and traffic congestion by allowing cars to communicate with one another and recognize dangers beyond what a vehicle’s radar, cameras or other sensors can detect,” the senators said.
“The cars and trucks of the future will have clean vehicle and safety technologies along with the horsepower and torque we know so well, and we need to make sure that these cutting-edge technologies are developed here in the United States,” said Peters. “This important legislation will make critical investments in our advanced manufacturing industry to improve our vehicle fleet, create middle class jobs and support American auto manufacturers and suppliers.”