NHTSA Releases Multi-Year Research Project on Modernizing Safety Standards for Automated Vehicles

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today released the fourth and final volume of its research effort “FMVSS Considerations for Vehicles with Automated Driving Systems.” This research explored potential technical changes to safety standards that would address conformity challenges posed by automated vehicles, which will inform NHTSA’s modernization efforts.

This multi-year and multi-phased research project examined 81 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to determine how they could be applied to innovative vehicle designs, with extensive hands-on research.

“The future of automated vehicles is right around the corner. Under President Trump and Secretary Duffy’s leadership, it’s our mission at NHTSA to design standards that enhance safety and support American innovation. This research will do just that by helping us better understand how our regulations can create barriers to new technologies that will improve safety on our roadways,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said.

The agency recognizes that the industry is rapidly evolving, with new entrants and business models continually emerging. Accordingly, NHTSA is issuing a new Request for Comment to solicit public input on any industry changes, product plans, new concepts, or emerging issues that may affect the scope of the effort since this research was initiated in 2017.

Additional Information:

Historically, safety rules have been developed with the assumption that a human driver would operate the vehicle. Vehicles designed never to be operated by a human allow for the exploration of entirely different vehicle architectures, including the removal of traditional controls, alternative seating layouts, and redesigned passenger interfaces.

The objective of this research was to gather data and evidence to inform safety-neutral technical translations that would allow for innovative, ADS-specific designs, and to identify potential adaptations to test procedures to ensure NHTSA can appropriately evaluate their compliance with existing safety standards.

The final volume focuses on the remaining 23 FMVSS including the braking and electronic stability control test methods for FMVSS Nos. 135 and 126; the heavy braking and electronic stability control requirements associated with FMVSS Nos. 105, 121 and 136; the technical translations of FMVSS Nos. 122, 122a, 123, 131, 223, 224, 403, 404 and 49 C.F.R. Part 571 Subpart A; and potential unconventional seating barriers associated with FMVSS Nos. 201, 202a, 207, 209, 210, 214, 216a, 219 and 226.

The three previously released research volumes are available:

Volume 1 focuses on 12 FMVSS. It presents research findings on performance requirements and test procedures, focusing on potential regulatory barriers identified for compliance demonstration of innovative vehicle designs, particularly those incorporating ADS. It describes activities focused on six crash avoidance standards (FMVSS Nos. 102, 108, 114, 118, 138 and 141) and six crashworthiness standards (FMVSS Nos. 201, 202a, 203, 204, 205 and 206).

Volume 2 focuses on 18 FMVSS, including nine crash avoidance standards (FMVSS Nos. 101, 103, 104, 110, 111, 113, 124, 125 and 126) and nine crashworthiness standards (FMVSS Nos. 207, 208, 210, 214, 216a, 219, 222, 225 and 226).

Volume 3 focuses on 28 FMVSS, including 11 crash avoidance standards (FMVSS Nos. 105, 106, 109, 116, 117, 119, 121, 129, 135, 136 and 139), 15 crashworthiness standards for conventional seating designs (FMVSS Nos. 209, 212, 213, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305 and 401), one low-speed standard (FMVSS No. 500), and one crashworthiness standard for unconventional seating designs (FMVSS No. 208).