Families Impacted by Traffic Crashes Set the AV Safety Agenda: Regulate Driverless Cars Like Aviation, Not Like Cars
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
June 22, 2026
CONTACT:
Marco Conner, Policy Counsel
Families for Safe Streets
Email: marco@familiesforsafestreets.org
Phone: 347-987-1197
Families for Safe Streets to unveil landmark autonomous vehicle policy framework on June 24 — previewing full paper and new regulatory standard for the industry. Contributors include Phil Koopman, Matt Wansley, and Andrew Miller.
UNITED STATES — Families for Safe Streets (FSS), a national organization founded by people whose loved ones were killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes, is releasing its first comprehensive autonomous vehicle policy framework: "Safety First, Always: An FSS Framework for Autonomous Vehicles."
The 75-page principles-driven framework will be officially unveiled at a live public webinar on Wednesday, June 24, 12–1 PM ET. Media are invited to review the full report in advance of its public release and join the launch webinar for an in-depth discussion of the paper’s findings, recommendations, and implications for policymakers, industry, and the public. Reporters are encouraged to consider advance coverage of the report and to share information about the webinar with interested audiences.
Why This Is Newsworthy
Victims' families are setting the tech agenda. This isn't a government agency, trade association, or think tank. It's an organization built from personal tragedy making specific, technical demands of the most heavily funded autonomous vehicle companies in the world. As the driving force behind newly enacted intelligent speed assistance programs in 10 states, as part of their Stop Super Speeders campaign, Families for Safe Streets have shown the transformative impact of crash victims and survivor voices.
A definitive stance on the "safer than humans" debate. The paper enters one of the central current controversies in AV policy — whether AVs need only match human drivers or surpass them — and lands firmly on the latter, with a specific threshold, evidence, and a novel regulatory framework to enforce it – the Gain & Guard Rule.
Self-certification declared unacceptable. The paper explicitly rejects the auto industry's traditional model of companies certifying their own safety — a direct challenge to how AV operators are currently regulated across states.
A restructuring of who bears risk. The proposed pooled compensation fund would represent a fundamental shift in liability — away from crash victims navigating years of litigation, and toward the industry that designs, operates, and profits from these systems – modeled on existing aviation and maritime passenger frameworks.
Proposes “The Lawful AV”: A framework for regulatory intervention when AVs repeatedly violate traffic laws or create unsafe conditions, even when no crash occurs.
About the Webinar
Event: "Safety First, Always" — Unveiling FSS's AV Safety Framework
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Time: 12:00–1:00 PM ET
Format: Live Zoom webinar with Q&A
Featured Speaker: Marco Conner, Policy Counsel, Families for Safe Streets
Register Here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/2017821598510/WN_rGOPHGRKR4ecbempCjMMWw
The Core Argument: Regulate AVs Like Aviation, Not Like Cars
The framework’s premise is clear: AVs hold real life-saving potential, but the auto industry's history of manufacturer self-certification, safety defects addressed after deployment, and reactive recalls is unacceptable as a model for autonomous vehicles. Instead, FSS argues, AV regulation must mirror commercial aviation — rigorous pre-deployment certification, engineering redundancy, independent continuous oversight, and a culture of preventing catastrophic failures before they happen, not simply mitigating their harm after.
As FSS Policy Counsel Marco Conner writes in a recent op-ed: driverless cars could save tens of thousands of lives — but only if we demand aviation-grade standards, not a repeat of a century of avoidable harms from auto industry regulation
Highlights of What the Paper Covers
A new safety benchmark for AVs — the paper introduces the “Gain & Guard Rule” requiring substantive, measurable safety improvements before deployment
At its core, the Rule holds that where they operate, AVs must be substantially safer than human drivers on average (Gain), and never worse in any single operating environment (Guard).
In greater detail:Before full-scale commercial deployment, AVs must (1) demonstrate at least a ten-fold reduction in fatality, injury, and crash rates relative to human driving, as an exposure-weighted average across all authorized operational design domains (ODDs), and (2) not increase such rates within any individual authorized ODD.
The Gain & Guard Rule simplifies AV safety into a clear, measurable standard that helps the public understand, regulators evaluate, and companies plan for responsible deployment.
"The Lawful AV" — a complementary traffic law compliance framework establishing regulatory intervention triggers for persistent unlawful AV behavior, even when no crash results
Aviation-style liability — a strict liability pooled industry compensation fund modeled on aviation and maritime law, ensuring crash victims receive immediate compensation without needing to prove fault or identify which company's component failed
A staged certification pathway — five stages from simulation testing through full commercial deployment, with regulators — not companies — controlling advancement at each gate
Accessibility requirements — framing broad accessibility as a core safety requirement
And more
About Families for Safe Streets
Families for Safe Streets is a national advocacy organization founded in 2014 by people whose loved ones were killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes. Through policy advocacy, community organizing, and direct support services, FSS works to end the preventable epidemic of traffic deaths and serious injuries on U.S. roads.
www.familiesforsafestreets.org (844) 377-7337 | info@familiesforsafestreets.org | press@familiesforsafestreets.org
