NHTSA Announces Historic Rule to Modernize Driverless Vehicle Safety Standards

An official website of the United States government. Here's how you know

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites always use a .gov or .mil domain. Before sharing sensitive information online, make sure you’re on a .gov or .mil site by inspecting your browser's address (or "location") bar.

This site is also protected by an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that's been signed by the U.S. government. The https:// means all transmitted data is encrypted — in other words, any information or browsing history that you provide is transmitted securely.

January 19th, 2021

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today issued a final rule to modernize numerous Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and clarify ambiguities in current occupant protection standards for vehicles equipped with automated driving systems that are designed without traditional manual driver controls.

The rule amends several crashworthiness regulations to clarify safety standards for automated vehicles equipped without manual driver controls. The rule also exempts automated vehicles designed never to carry any human occupants, including human drivers, from crashworthiness standards.

Read the full news release here.