FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2017
Contact:
Jeremy Warriner, jeremy@savecampaign.org
SAVe CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TO PROMOTE SAFETY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Philadelphia, PA – Today the Safe Autonomous Vehicles (SAVe) Campaign officially launched its efforts to ensure that the development of autonomous vehicles prioritizes public safety, corporate transparency, and manufacturer accountability.
“Autonomous vehicles offer an incredible opportunity to reduce injuries and fatalities caused by car accidents. However, this is an industry that requires oversight and careful scrutiny,” said SAVe Campaign spokesman Jeremy Warriner. “Let’s remember that this is the same industry that brought us faulty airbags, dangerous ignition switches, hidden devices to conceal exhaust levels, and malfunctioning gas pedals, just to name a few. So while we hope that autonomous vehicles deliver on the promise of increased highway safety, we believe firmly in the importance of holding auto manufacturers accountable when their products don’t work or cause harm.”
The SAVe Campaign is a project organized by a national coalition of organizations, associations, and individuals that share a commitment to ensuring that autonomous vehicles are developed safely, transparently, and with accountability.
The campaign’s national spokesman, Jeremy Warriner, is an Indianapolis native and an advocate for accident victims. In October of 2005 Jeremy was involved in a tragic motor vehicle accident. He sustained numerous injuries including severe burns that required amputations above each knee and skin grafts from multiple tissue donors. Jeremy now dedicates his time to advocating for the needs of people with disabilities and raising awareness of the impact that people with disabilities can have on our society. Jeremy has testified in the Indiana Senate and House of Representatives on several occasions, and he testified in the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearings on the ramifications of the 2009 auto-industry bankruptcies. He is the inspiration for H.R. 3088, The Jeremy Warriner Consumer Protection Act, which was a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that was meant to restore legal rights to victims of defective vehicles whose lawsuits were stayed by the GM and Chrysler bankruptcy process.
“Already some manufacturers are voluntarily stepping up and making it known that accountability should be minimum standard for automakers,” added Warriner. “Volvo, for example, should be singled out for praise for their industry leading stance on accountability when it comes to autonomous vehicles. They are living up to their reputation for safety and I suspect consumers will reward them for it.”
During testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, Anders Karrberg, the vice president for government affairs for the Volvo Car Corporation, testified, “When [SAE level 4] cars are in autonomous mode, VCC believes the product liability should no longer rest with the driver, but should be assumed by the manufacturer. Therefore, in 2015 VCC announced that Volvo Cars will assume liability for SAE level 4 vehicles if a crash or incident is a result of a defect in the AD technology.”
The SAVe Campaign will communicate with the general public, opinion leaders, and policy makers for the purpose of educating and informing them of the importance of ensuring that automakers take responsibility for their technology.
To visit the SAVe Campaign website, go to http://www.savecampaign.org.
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