Automobiles

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Senators examining the future of driverless cars said they held “great potential” but also expressed uncertainty about safety issues for the new technology during a key committee hearing Wednesday.

"In recent years, we have seen advances in vehicle technology that show great potential – not only to save the lives of many more but also to revolutionize how we have come to understand the relationship between the driver and his car," Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), said during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on the policy implications of self-driving vehicles.

The American Beverage Institute said lowering the limit for drivers to 0.05 would “criminalize perfectly responsible behavior.”

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tuesday that the threshold be 0.05 percent blood alcohol limit.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) will introduce legislation Wednesday calling for increased drilling on U.S. federal lands to displace Iranian oil on the world market, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The Hill.

The bill requires the president to establish enough “Iranian Oil Replacement Zones” on federal lands to produce 1.25 million barrels of oil per day — approximately the amount Iran exports every day.

An Inhofe aide told The Hill that would divert oil the U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to nations that still buy Iranian crude, such as China, India and Japan. The goal is to give President Obama wiggle room to enforce full sanctions on Iranian oil by ending waivers awarded to some nations. 

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday will take a peek under the hood of new advanced vehicle technologies that have recently hit the auto market.

In particular, the Commerce panel plans to use the hearing to discuss the policy implications of self-driving vehicles, which have received a lot of buzz lately thanks to the introduction of Google's driverless cars. Lawmakers are concerned about the safety of those vehicles on the roadways.

California already passed a law last fall that allows Google and other companies to operate driverless cars in the state.

A group of senators introduced legislation Thursday that would bar rental car companies from renting recalled cars to consumers, warning the practice risks their customers' lives.

A natural-gas van company awarded a $50 million Energy Department (DOE) loan has suspended operations and laid off roughly 100 workers, according to press accounts.

The closure of Vehicle Production Group (VPG), which builds wheelchair-accessible vans powered by natural gas, will likely increase Republican criticism of Energy loan programs that are already facing heavy Capitol Hill scrutiny.

Former CEO John Walsh told The Detroit Free Press that the Michigan-based company’s owners are negotiating a sale. “The people who are interested are close to the company and current partners,” he told the paper.

VPG’s woes arrive as plug-in hybrid maker Fisker Automotive, which was also supported by the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, has collapsed and teeters on bankruptcy.