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Dive Overview:
Vin White, FMCSA Acting Administrator
Courtesy of FMCSA
- The Transportation Department announced Tuesday that it has named an interim head of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to lead the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
- White, who served at the Department of Transportation for more than a decade under the Obama and Biden administrations, will continue in his role as acting chief AI officer, a role he has held since 2021.
- “The Agency is committed to improving safety for all road users and is committed to working with safety partners across the commercial motor vehicle industry to carry out this effort,” White said in the release.
Dive Insights:
How long White will serve as FMCSA's top official will likely be determined by the outcome of this year's presidential election.
But his promotion to acting administrator and deputy administrator of the FMCSA, the trucking industry's main safety regulator, reflects the expanding role of automation in transportation.
The agency has been without a permanent leader since Commissioner Robin Hutchison resigned in January, and trucking trade groups have said they want the next commissioner to be someone who understands and listens to the industry, or who comes from the trucking industry.
White's background is in government and policy, not truck driving, according to his LinkedIn page, but his experience developing and implementing AI in the transportation sector could be valuable as some driverless technology companies prepare to remove safety operators from trucks as soon as later this year.
Federal departments have shown a desire to seek AI expertise in key leadership roles: The Department of Transportation hired Allison Dane Camden, who has experience leading an AI truck parking pilot on the West Coast, as director of the Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy.
White will be the third administrator to lead FMCSA this year alone: Deputy Administrator Sue Lawless has been serving as the agency's interim leader since Hutchison retired in January.
