Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.
If you want to sell a car in the USA, it must comply with federal motor vehicle safety standards, otherwise known as FMVSS. Those rules require such things as an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and a steering wheel. But what if you want to manufacture a truly autonomous vehicle, one with no human driver? Then the need for pedals and a steering wheel becomes obsolete, doesn’t it?
Way back when, elevators had human operators who called out what departments were on which floors in stores. They had a manual control in front of them that determined whether the elevator went up or down and at what speed. Some of the operators even opened and closed the doors by hand! Elevator technology has come a long way since then, and today we think nothing of stepping into a steel box and having it deliver us to our chosen floor without the intervention of a human operator.
[embedded content]
We got used to automatic elevators, surely we could get used to autonomous cars, couldn’t we? Perhaps, but first there would need to be changes to the FMVSS standards. That is exactly what NHTSA plans to do.
NHTSA Steps Into The Future
On September 4, 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who qualified for his position by being a lumberjack and a highly paid buffoon on the Fox Comedy channel, announced in a breathless press release that “NHTSA is launching three rulemakings to modernize Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for vehicles with automated driving systems. These standards were written decades ago and fail to account for automated vehicles.”
“America must lead the way in transportation innovation. If we don’t, our adversaries will fill the void,” Duffy wrote. “The rules of the road need to be updated to fit the realities of the 21st century. Our changes will eliminate redundant requirements and bring us closer to a single national standard that spurs innovation and prioritizes safety.”
NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser added, “Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were written for vehicles with human drivers and need to be updated for autonomous vehicles. Removing these requirements will reduce costs and enhance safety. NHTSA is committed to supporting the safe development of advanced technologies and advancing a new era of transportation.”
NHTSA is proposing four rule changes to the FMVSS. Each would address standards for vehicles with automated driving systems (ADS) and no manual controls:
FMVSS No. 102, “Transmission shift position sequence, starter interlock and transmission braking effect.”
FMVSS No, 103, “Windshield defrosting and defogging systems,” and
FMVSS No. 104, “Windshield wiping and washing systems.”
FMVSS No. 108, “Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.”
FMVSS 108 “includes requirements that assume a human driver and manual controls.” There are also references to the location of a driver as well as wording related to the use of those controls.
Seems like pretty tame stuff, doesn’t it? With no human driver, who is going to manipulate the gear shift (will autonomous cars even have one of those?), turn on the defroster when the windshield fogs up, or perform other assorted duties people normally do?
Behind The Scenes
Here’s what these changes are really about. The press release slipped this in at the end — “NHTSA’s AV Framework will unleash American ingenuity, maintain key safety standards, and prevent a harmful patchwork of state laws and regulations. The three principles are:
Prioritizing the safety of ongoing AV operations on public roads.
Unleashing innovation by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers.
Enabling commercial deployment of AVs to enhance safety and mobility for the American public.
Did you spot the important language in there? Here it is:
prevent a harmful patchwork of state laws and regulations
… removing unnecessary regulatory barriers.
This is the administration firing a shot across the bow of uppity state safety officials in progressive states — can you say California? State’s rights and all that conservative claptrap? Fugeddabowdit. Government overreach by faceless bureaucrats in faraway Washington is now the order of the day.
New Policies For Autonomous Vehicles
In June, NHTSA announced it was making significant changes to the approval process for vehicles without human controls. According to Autoblog, the changes are intended to assist automakers and tech companies in deploying self-driving vehicles without traditional controls like steering wheels or pedals. That approval process has taken years in some cases.
NHTSA exemptions will now be capped at 2,500 per automaker, and the approval process is expected to take months instead of years. Companies will apply for exemptions through the FMVSS process.
NHTSA officials stated in a press release that they anticipate “publishing the enhanced instructions shortly and will begin implementing the modified approach to evaluating exemption requests immediately.” These instructions will help manufacturers better understand application requirements and give companies more insight into the information most helpful to the NHTSA during their review, Autoblog notes. NHTSA said its altered approach aims to help automated driving systems reach their full potential in advancing road safety.
Winners & Losers
The obvious question here is, cui bono? The news reports suggest that Cruise, the autonomous division of General Motors, was hindered significantly in its AV development by an NHTSA approval process that took years.
Just a few weeks ago, Zoox, the autonomous vehicle startup that is part of the Jeff Bezos intergalactic empire, was issued a waiver by NHTSA as part of its newly expanded Automated Vehicle Exemption Program — the first company to get one. Bloomberg reports that decision followed a lengthy period of negotiation between NHTSA and the company. Zoox first announced its driverless car designed without a steering wheel or pedals in 2022.
Waymo is the current leader in the robotaxi business in terms of the number of vehicles on the road and the number of riders who use its services every day, but so far as we know, the company is not actively pursuing the manufacture of driverless automobiles, preferring instead to convert standard production cars for robotaxi duty.
Then there is Tesla, which has grand designs on the robotaxi space with the faintly ridiculous Cybercab it revealed earlier this year. So far as we know, that concept is nothing more than that. There are no reports of prototypes undergoing testing or plans to manufacture them.
Instead, Elon Musk seems content to convert standard Model Y SUVs to autonomous operation. So far, they all have a human safety driver onboard. The blockbuster pay package for Musk announced this week includes a requirement that Tesla, under Musk’s guidance, have at least 1 million robotaxis in service within ten years.
Musk for years has complained long and loud about state regulators slowing down his quest for autonomous vehicles, even while his cars keep bumping into emergency vehicles and plowing through stop signs.
The new initiative may seem like a move to help Tesla and Musk, but since almost everyone who is anybody in Silicon Valley — except Musk — was in Washington last week for a big powwow about AI, it seems unlikely this failed administration is interested in boosting Musk in any way.
The issue of federal versus state control over autonomous vehicles is a touchy one. States may have a legitimate interest in protecting their citizens from rogue vehicles careening about and putting all other drivers in danger. But should states have the power to say what color turn signals should be or how loud a horn is?
Those sorts of questions will always be an issue in any federation, but for now, it may be safe to assume that more autonomous vehicles will be appearing on public roads soon, at least in some states. The days of the horizontal elevator are getting closer all the time.
Sign up for CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and follow us on Google News!
Advertisement
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one on top stories of the week if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
Share this story!