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Lawmakers weigh rules for platooning trucks as DOT and unions urge strict limits
Summary
House Bill 97 would set permitting and safety standards for platooning (autonomous-following) trucks. MDT signaled conditional opposition, urging permits, geographic limits and a later effective date; Teamsters and Montana AFL-CIO urged tabling over safety and workforce concerns.
Representative Worth told the House Transportation Committee that House Bill 97 aims to set guardrails for platooning — truck platoons in which a lead truck with a driver communicates with following trucks that may be partially or fully autonomous.
Senator Dan Loge, who worked on the interim study, said the bill’s purpose is to allow experimentation with safety-oriented permitting rather than creating a free-for-all. “The idea is not to stop this from happening, but it’s to set up those safety guidelines,” he said.
Larry Flynn, deputy director at the Montana Department of Transportation,…
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