United States – Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), will tell lawmakers that she will continue to seek approval of safety recommendations and scrutinize federal agencies.
Renewed Focus
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce is to hold a hearing On Wednesday, about the re-nomination by Mr. Biden of Homendy, who is slated to lead the board tasked with the investigation of air, rail, marine, pipeline, and highway accidents, as reported by Reuters.
“On scene, my most important duty is to brief the families on what is often the worst day of their lives. It’s why I fight so hard for NTSB safety recommendations,” Homendy will say, according to her written testimony, pledging to continue serving “as a fierce advocate for improving transportation safety.”
Homendy was the board onsite member during the recent Baltimore preferential structure collaging along with the recent Alaska Airlines (ALK.N), Boeing (BA.N), and 737 MAX 9 at the time of the door panel blowout.
Experience and Commitment
Homendy, who has served on the board since August 2018 and has been the chair since August 2021, worked as a senior legislative staff member handling transportation issue prior to that.
NTSB’s Impact and Growth
She will argue to the senators that in 2023, NTSB hired 71 people, adding to the 7 hired in 2017 and bringing the headcount to 430. Every year, this organization investigates 2,200 domestic cases and 450 foreign ones involving every kind of transport.
Tesla’s Response and Ongoing Developments
Homendy also brought reproach to NHTSA for not having to fend for safe driver assistance systems that TSLA.O, Autopilot, and self-driving vehicles are safe.
NHTSA did not adopt the NTSB’s recommendations, which asked that drivers “remain fully and continuously engaged in the driving task.” By December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration even recalled 2 million vehicles due to the risk of driver misuse, as reported by Reuters.
Tesla has said in the past that they do not agree with NHTSA’s work on analysis but that they will have an over-the-air software update that will “incorporate additional controls and alerts” in order to remind drivers on the autopilot function to operate within their driving control.