NHTSA will hold a public meeting at USDOT Headquarters on March 10 from 8:50 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET to provide updates and insights into ongoing and upcoming vehicle automation activities.
The first portion of the meeting will feature keynote addresses from the DOT leadership and industry executive panel discussions on key automated driving systems topics.
The second portion of the meeting will build upon the AV Workshop that was held during the Safety Research Portfolio meeting on November 20, 2025. NHTSA gleaned valuable information from stakeholders on various topics. In this subsequent meeting, NHTSA intends to gather specific input on potential actions, including future guidance on the safe domestic development, testing, and deployment of ADS-equipped vehicles.
NHTSA intends to utilize stakeholder input to better inform the agency’s upcoming activities.
Attendees must register no later than March 5.
Proposed Schedule
7:30 a.m. - Check-In Opens
8:50 a.m. - Welcome and Keynote
9:30 a.m. - Fireside Chat
- Speakers:
- Jonathan Morrison, Administrator, NHTSA
- Aicha Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Zoox
- Tekedra Mawakana, Co-CEO, Waymo
- Chris Urmson, CEO, Aurora
- We are at an inflection point for automated mobility. The industry has progressed beyond the era of isolated testing, development, and pilot programs into a reality where robotaxis and commercial vehicles are now navigating American roadways daily. However, the transition from successful technical demonstration to nationwide commercial scaling remains the industry’s greatest hurdle. In this candid fireside chat, NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison will sit down with key architects behind the ongoing transition from developmental project to deployed product. The discussion will bridge the gap between corporate roadmaps and the federal regulatory frameworks essential for long-term stability, with an emphasis on safety assurance and public trust.
10:45 a.m. - Panel Discussion: Measures and Metrics for Real-World Safety Performance and Crash Risk Assessment
- Moderator: Cem Hatipoglu, Associate Administrator of Vehicle Safety Research, NHTSA
- Panelists:
- Kevin Gay, Senior Director, Uber
- Phil Koopman, Faculty Emeritus, CMU
- Jeff Wishart, Automated Vehicle Behavioral Regulations Lead, GM
- While people have asked for decades, “How safe is safe enough?”, perhaps an even more important question is “How do you measure safety performance?” While some seek to compare system performance to a hypothetical representative human driver, identifying relevant performance thresholds can easily be perceived as arbitrary (e.g., Which human baseline? Which aspects of driving behavior? How do you weigh different factors?) Furthermore, these metrics are often built around lagging indicators, such as fatality, injury or crash rates that do not adequately address future safety risks. This panel will bring together subject matter experts to examine potential measures and metrics suited to this challenge. The discussion will focus on leading indicators and concepts such as safety margin violations that extend beyond simple crash or fatality counts. Panelists will also consider appropriate benchmarks for AV performance, the role of proposed kinematic and behavioral metrics, and the underlying assumptions embedded in these approaches, including where they may differ in reflecting how humans perceive risk.
11:30 a.m. - Panel Discussion: Remote Assistance in AV Deployments
- Moderator: Peter Simshauser, Chief Counsel, NHTSA
- Panelists:
- Adam Campbell, Head of Safety Innovation, Gatik
- Allison Drutchas, Autonomous Vehicles Attorney
- John Maddox, Senior Director, Zoox
- As the automated vehicle industry transitions to widespread commercial scaling in 2026, Remote Assistance has emerged as the essential function bridging the gap between machine logic and complex urban reality. This session explores the critical distinctions between various types of Remote Assistance that can range from limited confirmation of a proposed activity, to providing guidance or permission to deviate from a programmed norm to fully remote manual driving. While Remote Assistance systems are seen as vital for scaling AV deployments, they introduce novel safety challenges, including network latency risks, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and the human factors of maintaining a remote operator’s situation awareness. Panelists will discuss the role of remote operationss in fleet resiliency, public trust, and practical management of the long-tail problem.
12:15 p.m. - Lunch Break
1:30 p.m. - Workshop
- Facilitator: Stacy Balk, Acting Director of Automation Safety, NTHSA
- Stakeholder input is a key to advancing NHTSA AV actions. Output from the November 20, 2025, event will be discussed. The remainder of the afternoon will focus on gathering input on main topics including potential future guidance on: remote assistance, ADS behavioral competencies, and changes in the AV landscape since 2017, when NHTSA published the voluntary guidance Automated Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety.
4:00 p.m. - Concluding Remarks
4:05 p.m. - Meet NHTSA
- NHTSA staff will be available to engage in discussion with stakeholders until 4:30 p.m.
More Information
NHTSA is committed to providing equal access to this event for all participants. People with disabilities who need accommodations should send a request to NHTSA.Communication@dot.gov no later than March 5.