Co-Exist, not replace.

That's how autonomous vehicle advocates describe a push to make them legal on Kentucky roads.

A legislative committee advanced House Bill seven.

Supporters say it would help move more freight with less people and complement the trucking industry.

But critics want to put the brakes on the plan because of safety concerns and possible job loss from delivery vehicles to trucks and shuttles.

ATVs, as they're called for short, are already cruising on highways in 23 other states.

House Bill seven a redo from a vetoed measure last year creates a regulatory framework for Avs and would require trucks weighing over £62,000 to have a human observer along for the first two years.

The law takes effect.

Proponents say Avs must meet certain safety standards, including pulling over when there is a malfunction.

Of paramount importance is the ability of Avs to make us all safer.

Avs do not speed, they do not text, they do not drive impaired or fatigued.

Sadly, human drivers do all of those things, contributing in nearly 43,000 American deaths on our roads in 2022, according to federal government statistics, Avs are positioned to combat this trend of unsafe driving that has persisted for many years.

They have unparallel visibility of the world around them as a result of advanced technology that works in concert to form the automated driving system, which is the brain that drives the vehicle.

The combination of these systems lends to quicker decisions with many more inputs than a human driver.

ABS also have a 360 degree field of vision which can detect, track and react to objects and people even when they are hidden from human perception due to vehicles and other obstructions.

But not everyone is on board, like Michel Grubbs with the Truck Safety Coalition, who lost family members to a collision with a tractor trailer.

Most people are unaware the large truck crash deaths have surged nearly 90% since 2014.

And I'm here today because my son and his future family are part of that statistic.

Proven and safe solutions are needed in this time of crisis.

And at this time, I don't feel we should be recklessly testing autonomous vehicles and trucks next to unsuspecting Kentucky motorists.

It's not about being for or against the bill.

This is just reminding everyone that we we do have we do have some facts and we have seen some cases where law enforcement has run into pro you know, vehicles malfunctioning.

We've seen that before.

We have a couple of cases in Nevada and California right now that have been really newsworthy again.

Anyone can can Google this, but where they've been used in sex trafficking and other things like that, again, these are extremely egregious and and really could be, you know, one off issues.

But again, these are things that I hope our colleagues here in the legislature and our and our friends will at least consider as we're going through this, because we want to keep our commonwealth safe.

House Bill seven Cleared committee and now waits for action in the full House.