Overview
- Chairmen Brett Guthrie and Gus Bilirakis scheduled a House Energy and Commerce hearing for January 13 to examine multiple autonomous-vehicle bills.
- The Motor Vehicle Modernization Act would raise the current exemption cap from 2,500 vehicles per automaker per year to 90,000 for a 12‑month period, enabling deployments without human controls.
- Draft measures under consideration include preempting state-level autonomous driving rules and directing NHTSA to issue ADAS functionality and calibration guidance.
- Under existing law, NHTSA can grant up to 2,500 exemptions per automaker annually, and recent requests from major manufacturers have not been approved.
- Federal transportation leaders have signaled easing of FMVSS and some reporting requirements, while pilots expand with Tesla’s Austin robotaxi service and ongoing growth by operators such as Waymo alongside NHTSA safety investigations.