NHTSA March 2026 Rulemakings — FMVSS Amendments for Driverless Vehicles

Headline Finding

On March 16, 2026, NHTSA published two proposed rulemakings amending Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to remove requirements designed for human drivers that are inapplicable to fully driverless vehicles. The proposed amendments — including changes to FMVSS 102 (transmission shift position displays) — have a comment deadline of April 15, 2026. These are the first in a series of four planned 2026 rulemakings aimed at systematically clearing FMVSS barriers to ADS vehicle deployment, signalling that US federal AV governance is pivoting from restraint to facilitation.

Detail

Background — AV STEP (proposed January 2025): The Trump/Duffy Administration’s AV regulatory framework, announced in 2025, established three priorities: (1) safety of ongoing AV operations, (2) removing regulatory barriers, (3) enabling commercial deployment. NHTSA’s AV STEP program (proposed rulemaking, January 2025) would create a voluntary reporting and review process for ADS-equipped vehicles — a major departure from traditional mandatory pre-market approval.

March 16, 2026 rulemakings:

• FMVSS 102 amendment: Proposes to exempt fully autonomous vehicles — those without steering wheels or pedals — from a transmission shift position display requirement designed for human drivers. Comment deadline: April 15, 2026
• Second rulemaking (same date): NHTSA proposed amending Federal crash avoidance standards for autonomous vehicles (specific FMVSS not fully specified in search summaries but reported March 23, 2026 by Repairer Driven News)

2026 rulemaking pipeline: NHTSA has announced plans for four proposed rulemakings in 2026 targeting FMVSS barriers, covering: indicator lights and warning systems, lighting requirements for manual controls, windshield wipers and defrosters, and transmission shift interlock standards.

Report to Congress (March 2026): NHTSA’s third biannual ADS research and rulemaking report to Congress noted legislators’ emphasis on modernising regulations to maintain US competitiveness vs. China and Europe.

Broader context: This rulemaking activity reflects the Trump administration’s explicit framing of AV regulation as a competitiveness issue — NHTSA is acting to remove “unnecessary regulatory barriers” rather than establish new safety floors. The paper’s governance analysis must note this US federal direction diverges significantly from the EU and UK approaches, which are adding governance requirements rather than removing them.

Governance Implication

Three implications for the CAM paper:

1. US federal-state governance gap is widening: As NHTSA strips back FMVSS requirements, individual states (and cities within them) become the primary governance layer for operational conditions. This makes city-level governance frameworks (the paper’s core argument) more urgent, not less, in the US context.

2. Voluntary vs. mandatory split: AV STEP is voluntary — companies can opt in or out. This means the transparency and safety data that cities need to make informed licensing decisions will not be universally available.

3. Comment deadline as governance leverage: The April 15 FMVSS 102 comment deadline is an active regulatory moment. Cities, transit agencies, and advocacy groups could submit comments arguing for minimum operational reporting requirements as a condition of FMVSS exemption. The paper’s authors / Field States may wish to consider whether to file a comment.

Sources

• “NHTSA Proposes Amending Federal Crash Avoidance Standards for Autonomous Vehicles,” Sidley Environmental Health & Safety Brief, March 23, 2026
• “NHTSA shares autonomous driving system research, rulemaking update,” Repairer Driven News, March 23, 2026
• “NHTSA Proposes Rule Change to Allow Autonomous Vehicles Without Steering Wheels or Pedals,” basenor.com, 2026
• “NHTSA Proposes National Program for Vehicles with Automated Driving Systems,” NHTSA press release, 2025 (AV STEP)
• “Driving Into 2026: The State of NHTSA and the Future of Vehicle Safety Regulation,” Foley & Lardner, November 2025
• Report to Congress: NHTSA Research and Rulemaking on Automated Driving Systems, July 2025 / March 2026 update