News Class Focuses on Autonomous Vehicle Safety

Autonomous—or self-driving—vehicles appear to be an unavoidable part of our future and are already being tested on the nation's roads and highways.

As part of its free online educational platform, The Responder Safety Learning Network has begun offering a training program on autonomous vehicles and how firefighters and other emergency responders can best handle their inevitable future encounters with them.

Outreach to technology companies and vehicle manufacturers has raised a number of concerns, particularly how these vehicles will interface with emergency responders operating at accident scenes and what technology needs to be in place to ensure additional safety. These companies have not yet devised workable solutions to these anticipated problems.

The network's free program focuses on "the basics of autonomous vehicle technology, the challenges and opportunities it presents to emergency responders, the current state of technology development, and how to begin to prepare for the presence of these vehicles on the roadways you serve."

The program is compatible for both desktop and mobile/tablet users.