By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – The U.S. House will hold a hearing next Wednesday on self-driving vehicle technology, despite Congress’s inability to push for faster deployment.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee for Highways and Transit announced Thursday that it would hold an February 2 hearing entitled “The Road Ahead for Automatic Vehicles”. It will feature experts, labor leaders and representatives from the industry.

John Samuelsen of Transport Workers Union of America will testify. A spokeswoman of the union representing more than 150,000 employees in rail, transportation and other industries said John Samuelsen would be present.

Nat Beuse (head of safety, self-driving startup Aurora Innovation Inc) and representatives from the Teamsters union as well as the Self-Driving Coalition (which on Wednesday renamed itself Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, (AVIA) and now includes Ford Motor (NYSE;) Co) are expected to give evidence. Lyft Inc (NASDAQ): Uber Technologies (NYSE): Inc, Alphabet (NASDAQ): Inc’s Waymo LLC.

Congress rejected Republican Senator John Thune’s request to authorize legislation that eased restrictions on autonomous cars last year.

Thune recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have the power to allow exemptions for thousands of self driving vehicles per manufacturer from safety regulations written with human drivers.

Thune, along with other legislators, have been trying for approval over five years to move the vehicles that they believe could make a significant impact on road safety.

Thune in May stated that automated vehicle technology will only advance if the regulatory framework is up to speed with innovation from the private sector.

The effort was met with opposition by unions and organizations representing trial lawyers.

Greg Regan (president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO) told U.S. lawmakers in May that autonomous cars put millions upon jobs at risk. Self-driving legislation must not be applied to commercial trucks.