Apple joins U.S. Department of Transportation Automation Committee that will oversee self-driving vehicles

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced today that it’s forming a new Automation Committee to oversee self-driving transportation policy and one of its 25 members happens to be Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson.

According to the department’s press release, the newly formed committee will have its first meeting later this month on January 16 and the focus of the group will be to address “the development and deployment of automated vehicles, and determining the needs of the Department as it continues with its relevant research, policy, and regulations.”

As technology develops, automation may play a larger role in a number of modes of transportation, including cars, buses, trains, planes, and UAS (drone) systems. This committee will play a critical role in sharing best practices, challenges, and opportunities in automation, and will open lines of communication so stakeholders can learn and adapt based on feedback from each other.

Jackson isn’t a surprising pick for the committee, having served as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) until 2013 when she joined Apple. The committee includes a number of experts in various fields, including General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra, and Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garrett as Co-Chairs, and Stanford University Professor of Engineering Dr. J. Chris Gerdes as Vice Chair. Others include executives from FedEx, Zipcar, Hyperloop One, Uber, National Safety Council, Lyft, Amazon and others (full list below).

While Jackson serves as Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, and often appears as a face of the company related to environmental efforts, Apple’s role on the committee is notable due to its secretive Apple Car initiative known as Project Titan. As of September, after reports that Apple was looking to reboot the project to focus on an autonomous self-driving platform, one report claimed the company already has fully autonomous vehicles being tested on closed routes. Apple even confirmed interest in autonomous systems to transform ‘the future of transportation’ in a letter it sent to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that was uncovered last month. That news came amid reports that Apple was attempting to refocus the team and even laying off some employees in the process.

Earlier this week we reported that Swift creator and Apple’s longtime leader of Xcode/dev tools team left the company to join Tesla, while another high profile Apple employee who worked on many iconic Macs also left for Tesla this month. There have been many reports over the last year of a poaching war between the two companies, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in June last year that he thinks Apple may have left it too late on its car project.

Full list of committee members below:

1. Co-Chair: Mary Barra- General Motors, Chairman and CEO
2. Co-Chair: Eric Garcetti- Mayor of Los Angeles, CA
3. Vice Chair: Dr. J. Chris Gerdes- Stanford University, Professor of Engineering
4. Gloria Boyland- FedEx, Corporate Vice President, Operations & Service Support
5. Robin Chase- Zipcar; Buzzcar; Veniam, Co-founder of Zipcar and Veniam
6. Douglas Chey- Hyperloop One, Senior Vice President of Systems Development
7. Henry Claypool- Community Living Policy Center, Policy Director
8. Mick Cornett- Mayor of Oklahoma City, OK
9. Mary “Missy” Cummings- Duke University, Director, Humans and Autonomy Lab, Pratt School of Engineering
10. Dean Garfield- Information Technology Industry Council, President and CEO
11. Mary Gustanski- Delphi Automotive, Vice President of Engineering & Program Management
12. Debbie Hersman- National Safety Council, President and CEO
13. Rachel Holt- Uber, Regional General Manager, United States and Canada
14. Lisa Jackson- Apple, Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives
15. Tim Kentley-Klay- Zoox, Co-founder and CEO
16. John Krafcik- Waymo, CEO
17. Gerry Murphy- Amazon, Senior Corporate Counsel, Aviation
18. Robert Reich- University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy
19. Keller Rinaudo- Zipline International, CEO
20. Chris Spear- American Trucking Association (ATA), President and CEO
21. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger- Safety Reliability Methods, Inc., Founder and CEO
22. Bryant Walker Smith- University of South Carolina, Assistant Professor, School of Law and (by courtesy) School of Engineering
23. Jack Weekes- State Farm Insurance, Operations Vice President, Innovation Team
24. Ed Wytkind- President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
25. John Zimmer- Lyft, Co-founder and President