Federal Self-Driving Car Laws: NHTSA, FMCSA and Congress (2026)

As of September 2026, there is no comprehensive federal statute that governs how self-driving cars operate on the road. Federal law mainly regulates the vehicle: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sets safety standards for how vehicles are built, and it can investigate crashes and order recalls. States mainly regulate the driving: who may operate an automated vehicle, where, under what permit, and under which traffic and insurance rules. The exception is federal motor carrier rules for commercial trucks and buses, covered below.

The federal rules that do apply come from a general vehicle safety statute, a crash-reporting order, a set of exemptions, and voluntary guidance. Several new rules and bills are pending. This page labels each item as law, order, guidance, or proposal.

Scope: This page covers federal law and federal agency action on automated vehicles (NHTSA, FMCSA, Congress) as of September 29, 2026. State laws on licensing, permits, traffic enforcement, and insurance are covered in the state-by-state self-driving car laws hub.

Who regulates self-driving cars, the federal government or the states?

Both, in different lanes. The federal government regulates the motor vehicle as a product. States regulate the use of vehicles on their roads.

The federal side runs through the Safety Act (49 U.S.C. chapter 301). Section 30103(b) says that when a federal safety standard is in effect, a state may adopt a standard for "the same aspect of performance" of a vehicle only if it is identical to the federal one. That clause is about vehicle performance standards. Its text does not mention driver licensing, traffic law, registration, or insurance.

The state side is where a self-driving car actually gets permission to drive. California, for example, provides that an autonomous vehicle "shall not be operated on public roads" until the manufacturer's application is approved by the DMV (Cal. Veh. Code 38750(c)), subject to a testing exception. Texas requires a person operating an automated vehicle commercially without a human driver to hold authorization from the Texas DMV under a law enacted in 2025 (SB 2807, Transportation Code chapter 545, subchapter J).

In practice, a robotaxi can satisfy every federal requirement and still be barred from a state's roads, and a state can welcome robotaxis without changing a single federal safety standard. For how those state rules differ, see the self-driving car laws by state hub. For who pays when a crash happens, see who is liable in a self-driving car accident.

What is federal law, and what is only guidance or a proposal?

Most of the headlines about federal self-driving policy describe programs, notices, and proposals rather than binding rules. This table sorts the main items.

Do federal safety standards apply to self-driving cars?

Yes, the same way they apply to every new vehicle. Congress gave NHTSA authority to issue Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and a manufacturer generally may not sell a new vehicle that does not comply with an applicable standard unless an exemption applies (49 U.S.C. 30112(a)).

NHTSA does not sign off on each design. In a September 2026 Federal Register notice, the agency wrote: "NHTSA does not endorse or approve any vehicles or items of equipment. Further, NHTSA does not approve or certify vehicles or equipment. Instead, the Safety Act establishes a self-certification process under which each manufacturer is responsible for certifying that its products meet all applicable safety standards."

Is there a federal standard for how a self-driving system must drive?

Not yet. The existing FMVSS govern equipment and crash performance such as brakes, glazing, and occupant protection. NHTSA describes performance requirements for an automated driving system (ADS) as the subject of a new rulemaking, not an existing standard.

On March 10, 2026, NHTSA announced "the commencement of a rulemaking process to establish performance requirements for ADS, which is expected to culminate in establishment of one or more FMVSS." Until a standard issues, the agency's tools for the behavior of a driving system are the ones described below: crash reporting, defect investigations, and recalls.

Do federal safety standards protect a company from lawsuits?

Not by itself. Section 30103(e) of the Safety Act states: "Compliance with a motor vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter does not exempt a person from liability at common law." Section 30103(d) adds that the Act's remedies are in addition to other rights and remedies under federal or state law.

Preemption can still cut the other way. In Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. (2000), the Supreme Court held that the Act's saving clause "does not bar the ordinary working of conflict pre-emption principles," and concluded that the Act, taken together with FMVSS 208, preempted the lawsuit before it. So a state claim that conflicts with a specific federal safety standard can be preempted, while compliance with a standard is not, on its own, a defense to liability.

That is why crash claims involving automated vehicles run through ordinary state negligence and product liability law. See who is liable in a self-driving car accident.

How can a car with no steering wheel be sold in the US?

The FMVSS were written when every car had a driver's seat, a steering wheel, and pedals, and many standards assume them. A vehicle designed without those controls may not fit some standards as written, so its maker asks NHTSA for an exemption.

There are two federal exemption paths, and they are easy to confuse.

• General exemptions (49 U.S.C. 30113 and 49 CFR part 555). These can allow commercial sale. Three of the four statutory bases are capped at 2,500 vehicles sold in the United States in any 12-month period, and an exemption on those bases lasts no more than 2 years at a time (49 U.S.C. 30113(d), (e)).
• Special exemptions (49 U.S.C. 30114(a)). These support research, demonstration, and similar purposes. NHTSA's Automated Vehicle Exemption Program used this path for imported vehicles and, since April 24, 2025, has also considered domestic vehicles. NHTSA reports it issued exemptions for more than 460 imported ADS-equipped vehicles across over 360 projects in 31 states from 2016 through 2025.

What did NHTSA decide about Zoox?

On July 31, 2026, NHTSA granted Zoox a temporary exemption from portions of eight FMVSS for its purpose-built robotaxi, a passenger car that "lacks manually operated driving controls." The grant runs "from July 31, 2026 through July 31, 2028," and lets Zoox manufacture vehicles under it for two years, provided "not more than 2,500 exempted vehicles are introduced into interstate commerce for commercial deployment in any 12-month period."

NHTSA made the grant subject to an "enhanced oversight condition." Under it, the agency issues Operational Authorizations that set operating conditions for the exempted vehicles and can be expanded as the technology matures. The exemption does not replace state and local permission. The grant requires Zoox and its robotaxis to comply with all federal, state, and local laws and to be permitted where required. On top of that, NHTSA's Operational Authorizations add federal conditions on public-road operation that can vary by operating area.

What changed in the federal exemption process?

On June 13, 2025, NHTSA announced improvements to its process for general exemptions. The July 2026 notice explains that, for ADS vehicles, the first Operational Authorization would be issued at the same time the grant is published in the Federal Register. NHTSA has also posted interim Part 555 guidance for commercial-deployment exemptions and asked for public comment. That guidance notice is not a rule. Its comment period closes September 30, 2026 (Docket NHTSA-2026-1552).

Separately, NHTSA states that it is developing a proposed rule to codify its Standing General Order reporting requirements. The Federal Register shows no such proposal yet.

Is NHTSA rewriting the safety standards for vehicles without manual controls?

It has proposed to. NHTSA has published proposed rules, not final rules, to adjust FMVSS Nos. 102 and 103/104 (March 16, 2026), No. 110 (April 1, 2026), and No. 135 on brake systems (June 26, 2026; comments extended to August 26, 2026). The proposals would distinguish how each standard applies to vehicles with and without manually operated driving controls. Until final rules issue, the current text of those standards still applies.

What happened to AV STEP?

NHTSA proposed the ADS-equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency, and Evaluation Program (AV STEP) in January 2025 as a voluntary program. On June 26, 2026 the agency withdrew it, stating that the January 15, 2025 proposal "is withdrawn as of June 26, 2026." Sources that describe AV STEP as an active federal program are out of date.

What is the Standing General Order for crash reporting?

The Standing General Order (SGO 2021-01) is NHTSA's crash-reporting mandate for automated driving systems and Level 2 driver assistance. It is issued under 49 U.S.C. 30166(g)(1)(A), which lets NHTSA "require, by general or special order, any person to file reports or answers to specific questions." It is an order, not a regulation, and it applies only to the entities NHTSA served with it. NHTSA estimates about 110 respondents.

The current version is the third amended order, effective with the reporting period that began June 16, 2025. NHTSA describes these reporting tiers in its 2026 Federal Register notice:

• Five-day reports. A reporting entity must report a crash involving an ADS or Level 2 ADAS vehicle that results in any person being transported to a hospital for medical treatment, a fatality, an air bag deployment, or a strike of a vulnerable road user. For ADS vehicles, a crash resulting in a tow-away must also be reported. These reports are due within five calendar days after the entity receives notice.
• Monthly reports. For ADS vehicles only, other crashes must be reported by the fifteenth day of the following month, where property damage is reasonably expected to exceed $1,000, the vehicle was the only one involved, or it struck another vehicle or object.
• Engagement window. The ADS or Level 2 system must have been engaged at the time of the crash or within 30 seconds before it.

NHTSA states the order "imposes no reporting obligations on any individual consumers." A person hurt in a crash with a robotaxi, or an owner of a car with driver assistance, has no duty to file anything with NHTSA under it.

Where can the crash data be found, and how should it be read?

NHTSA publishes the reports on its website as downloadable data files. For June through December 2025, it received reports of 517 alleged crashes involving ADS and 787 alleged crashes involving Level 2 ADAS. The agency says that from June 2025 through July 2026, its engagement with entities contributed to seven formal investigations and seven recalls.

Read the numbers carefully. NHTSA's own data documentation warns that "Incident report data may be incomplete or unverified" and that "The same crash may have multiple reports." A report means a crash involved a company's vehicle, not that the vehicle or its software caused it.

Counts from before and after June 16, 2025 are also not directly comparable. The third amendment changed what is reported and generally stopped requiring multiple entities to report the same crash. For a look at how the data applies to one operator, see Waymo robotaxi accidents.

Can NHTSA investigate a self-driving car and order a recall?

Yes. This is the federal government's main tool for problems with a driving system that is already on the road. Under 49 U.S.C. 30118, NHTSA can make an initial decision that a vehicle contains a safety-related defect and require the manufacturer to notify owners. Under 49 U.S.C. 30120, the manufacturer must remedy the defect without charge.

A recent example involves Waymo. NHTSA opened Preliminary Evaluation PE25013 on October 17, 2025 into Waymo vehicles driving around a stopped school bus. Waymo then filed recall 25E-084, covering 3,067 vehicles. The recall summary states that the software "may cause the vehicle to pass a stopped school bus even when the red lights are flashing and/or stop arm is extended," and reports the fix was a software update at no charge. For Tesla, see Tesla Autopilot and FSD lawsuits.

What is NHTSA's AV Framework and guidance?

In April 2025, NHTSA announced an AV Framework built on three principles: "(1) prioritize the safety of ongoing AV operations on public roads; (2) unleash innovation by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers; and (3) enable the commercial deployment of AVs." The framework has produced the SGO amendment, the domestic exemption expansion, the FMVSS proposals, and the Part 555 changes described above.

Separately, NHTSA has begun updating its automated driving guidance. The last guidance was "Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety" (ADS 2.0), published in 2017. NHTSA plans to release draft chapters over time and take comment on an open docket (NHTSA-2026-1520) through July 31, 2027, then consolidate them into a final guidance document.

Guidance is not law. NHTSA says so directly: "Guidance is not legally binding." It adds that conforming to guidance, as opposed to statutes and regulations, is "entirely voluntary."

What federal rules apply to driverless trucks?

Trucks add a second federal agency. NHTSA covers the truck as a vehicle; the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) covers motor carriers, drivers, and operation of commercial motor vehicles. FMCSA has said a "licensed human CMV driver must be seated behind the wheel" of Level 0 to 3 trucks, and its automation focus is Level 4 and 5 trucks with no human driver.

FMCSA has not issued rules written for driverless trucks. In a February 2023 notice (88 FR 6691), it considered requiring motor carriers to notify it before operating such trucks without a human driver behind the wheel. Its regulatory agenda lists a proposed rule, "Motor Carrier Operation of Automated Driving Systems (ADS)-Equipped Commercial Motor Vehicles" (RIN 2126-AC17), with a target of August 2026 in the 2026 Unified Agenda. That target is only a planning date: no proposed rule had been published in the Federal Register as of September 29, 2026.

Why do warning triangles matter for driverless trucks?

A federal rule requires the driver of a stopped commercial motor vehicle to place warning devices, such as reflective triangles, within 10 minutes (49 CFR 392.22(b)). With no human aboard, no one can place them. Two related rules, 49 CFR 393.25(e) and 393.95(f), cover the lamps and the type and number of devices.

FMCSA's response so far has been case by case:

• Denial. On December 27, 2024, FMCSA denied an industry-wide exemption sought by Waymo and Aurora, finding "the limited data presented does not support a likely equivalent level of safety for a national, industry-wide exemption," and inviting resubmission.
• Waivers. FMCSA has been issuing waivers that let Level 4 trucks use cab-mounted warning beacons instead. A waiver can last no more than 3 months (49 U.S.C. 31315(a)), so relief must be renewed. FMCSA's April 15, 2026 notice said the waiver then in force would expire July 9, 2026, and that other carriers, including Kodiak Robotics, had notified FMCSA they were operating under it. The current waiver, issued to Aurora on July 9, 2026, runs from July 10 through October 9, 2026. Check waiver terms on FMCSA's site before relying on them.
• Pending exemption. Aurora has applied for a five-year exemption using the same beacons. FMCSA took comments until May 15, 2026 (Docket FMCSA-2026-0958). The Federal Register shows no decision as of September 29, 2026.

Waiver relief is temporary and narrow. It is not a permanent federal rule authorizing driverless trucks. For crashes involving large trucks generally, see the truck accident hub.

What is Congress considering?

None of these bills is law. Each entry shows the latest recorded action as of September 29, 2026, and the descriptions below come from the bill text as introduced.

How would the SELF DRIVE Act change state and federal roles?

Its preemption is narrower than the phrase suggests. As introduced, H.R. 7390 would bar states from prohibiting the sale of an ADS vehicle whose maker has developed the required safety case, and from making manufacturers report crashes to a state. It says it would not limit state or local authority over traffic laws, vehicle registration, inspections, congestion management, insurance, consumer protection, or environmental rules, and that compliance does not exempt anyone from liability at common law.

The bill would also add new federal requirements, including a safety-case standard and a national crash data repository. It would not change the fact that states set the rules for operating on their roads. The bill has no recorded full-committee action and has not passed either chamber, so these terms could change or never take effect.

What is in the surface transportation bill for autonomous trucks?

H.R. 8870 is a five-year surface transportation reauthorization. As introduced, Subtitle E would:

• direct the Secretary to issue regulations within 2 years of enactment for a performance-based safety standard for ADS-equipped commercial vehicles;
• make cab-mounted beacons permissible notwithstanding 49 CFR 392.22(b), 393.95(f), and 393.25(e); and
• require a human operator in the vehicle for operations such as school bus transportation and placarded hazardous materials.

The House committee ordered the bill reported with amendments. The amended text is not reflected here, so the bill's final form is uncertain. It had not passed the House as of September 29, 2026.

What federal dates matter next?

• September 30, 2026: Comment period closes on NHTSA's interim Part 555 guidance for commercial-deployment exemptions.
• October 9, 2026: FMCSA's current warning-beacon waiver for Aurora ends.
• Recurring: NHTSA updates its SGO crash data monthly, and FMCSA waivers renew every three months.
• July 31, 2027: Comment period on NHTSA's updated ADS guidance ends, though chapters may be released before then.
• July 31, 2028: Zoox's exemption expires unless renewed.

Any of these could change how the rules apply, so check the agency dockets before relying on a status.

This page provides general legal information as of September 29, 2026, not legal advice. Federal notices, dockets, and bills change frequently. For advice about a specific crash or situation, consult a lawyer licensed in your state.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there federal laws for self-driving cars?

Yes, but not a comprehensive federal law written for them. Self-driving cars are covered by the general vehicle safety statute (the Safety Act, 49 U.S.C. chapter 301), NHTSA's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, its crash-reporting order, and its recall and exemption powers. Congress has not enacted a comprehensive statute regulating automated vehicles; several bills are pending.

Does NHTSA approve self-driving cars?

No. NHTSA states that it does not approve or certify vehicles or equipment. Manufacturers self-certify that their vehicles meet federal safety standards, and NHTSA can investigate defects, require reports, and order recalls.

Who regulates self-driving cars, NHTSA or the states?

Both. NHTSA regulates vehicle design and performance through FMVSS. States regulate whether and how automated vehicles may operate on their roads, including permits, licensing, traffic law, registration, and insurance.

Is there a federal law that allows cars without steering wheels?

There is no blanket federal authorization. A vehicle without manual controls generally needs an exemption from the safety standards that assume them. NHTSA granted Zoox one for its robotaxi effective July 31, 2026 through July 31, 2028, capped at 2,500 vehicles per 12-month period. NHTSA has also proposed changes to several standards for such vehicles, but those are not final.

What is the NHTSA Standing General Order?

It is an NHTSA order requiring named manufacturers and operators to report certain crashes involving automated driving systems and Level 2 driver assistance. Serious crashes are reportable within five days, and some ADS property-damage crashes are reported monthly. It does not require individual drivers or owners to report anything.

What is the SELF DRIVE Act?

H.R. 7390, the SELF DRIVE Act of 2026, is a pending House bill that would add federal safety-case and crash-data requirements for automated driving systems and limit some state laws. As of September 29, 2026 it had cleared a House subcommittee 12 to 11, with no later action recorded.

Are driverless trucks legal under federal law?

Federal motor carrier rules assume a human driver in several places, and FMCSA has not issued a rule specific to driverless trucks. FMCSA has handled the warning-device requirement through temporary waivers, and a five-year exemption application from Aurora is pending. Whether a driverless truck may run on a given road also depends on state law.

Can I sue a self-driving car company if federal safety standards were met?

Meeting a federal standard does not by itself end liability. The Safety Act says compliance with a safety standard does not exempt a person from liability at common law, although a state claim that conflicts with a specific federal standard can be preempted (Geier v. American Honda Motor Co., 2000). Whether a claim succeeds depends on state law and the facts.