The U.S. government announced a new regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles on Thursday (April 24) with the goal of speeding up the deployment of self-driving cars while also retaining provisions for reporting vehicle safety incidents.
“Our administration is keenly aware that we are engaged in an innovation race with China (CCP), with extremely high risks,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement.
“As part of the Department of Transportation’s innovation agenda, our new framework will streamline cumbersome procedures, moving us closer to achieving a unified national standard that both incentivizes innovation and prioritizes safety,” he added.
The new regulation will allow U.S. automakers to apply for exemptions to certain autonomous vehicle safety rules, provided that these vehicles are only used for research, demonstrations, testing, and other non-commercial purposes.
As part of the regulatory changes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will expand the autonomous vehicle exemption program to include U.S.-made vehicles, allowing companies to operate vehicles on U.S. roads that do not meet existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
Due to the rapid advancement of autonomous driving technology, some new vehicle designs no longer comply with past standards, such as lacking a steering wheel or rearview mirror.
Previously, exemptions only applied to foreign-made assembly vehicles.
According to data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), five Chinese companies – Baidu, Didi, WeRide, Pony.ai, and AutoX – conducted over 1.6 million miles of testing on California roads from 2017 to 2023.
While the new regulatory changes aim to expedite the deployment of autonomous vehicles, the NHTSA will continue to uphold its responsibility to regulate vehicle safety. The agency requires that any exempted vehicles must demonstrate safety levels equivalent to existing standards. Additionally, companies still have an obligation to report safety issues involving autonomous driving or advanced driver-assistance systems to ensure ongoing regulation throughout the technological development process.
The NHTSA had been concerned that the Trump administration would abolish reporting rules, but the Department of Transportation’s statement on Thursday emphasized that they would only require streamlined documentation without altering the reporting requirements themselves.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a advisor to Trump, had previously publicly criticized safety reporting as cumbersome and unfair.