General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and every major automaker operating in the United States — including Tesla — all seem to be on board.
On Friday morning in Detroit, 18 automakers came to terms on a voluntary agreement with federal car regulators to help bolster vehicle safety and cut down on road deaths, as reported by Autoblog.com.
Although last year set an all-time U.S. record for cars sold, automakers also recalled more vehicles than ever. That paved the way for such a pact to be formed.
"I don't need to recount the crisis after crisis we've been dealing," said Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, as part of Friday's announcement of the pact. "We know they haven't been good for the industry, for the DOT and most importantly, for public safety. Today we're taking a strong stand in favor of a new approach."
Friday's announcement came a day after Foxx announced in Detroit that the U.S. wants to spend $4 billion pushing the development of autonomous cars.
Led by General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, Foxx announced proposals that would improve the way early warning data and recall participation rates are reported.
As part of the announcement, automakers also agreed to improve their vehicles' cyber security within the overall safety pact.
Auto Blog additionally reports that this agreement has been in the works with the DOT since Dec. 1, 2015, initially having 16 automakers on board before two more joined before Friday's revelation.
"Perhaps years from now, we'll look back at this moment as a time when there may have been some skepticism about the safety of the auto industry in general, and the industry stepped up and made a hard pivot with us toward a more proactive safety culture," Foxx added.
There's plenty of work to be done, considering nearly 33,000 Americans died as a result of traffic accidents in 2014, the last year that such data was recorded.
