NHTSA proposes new AV crash‑avoidance standards
NHTSA proposed amendments to federal crash‑avoidance standards to better address autonomous vehicles’ unique safety and testing demands, including sensor redundancy and fallback strategies. The draft signals regulators racing to set hardware and HMI requirements as more cars operate without traditional controls. (ww2.motorists.org)
NHTSA published paired Notices of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register on March 16, 2026 to “modernize” several crash‑avoidance FMVSS for Automated Driving System (ADS)‑equipped vehicles, listing dockets NHTSA–2026–0628 and NHTSA–2026–0629 (RINs 2127–AM72 and 2127–AM71). (govinfo.gov) The FMVSS No. 102 NPRM would except ADS‑equipped vehicles that lack manually operated driving controls from the requirement to display a transmission shift position. (federalregister.gov) The FMVSS No. 103 and No. 104 NPRMs would similarly except ADS‑only vehicles from windshield defrosting/defogging and windshield wiping/washing system requirements that assume a human driver and manual controls. (federalregister.gov) NHTSA posted the proposed‑rule dockets and is accepting public comments through Regulations.gov, with the comment period for these March 16, 2026 NPRMs scheduled to close on April 15, 2026. (regulations.gov) These targeted FMVSS updates are part of a broader agency push—including the AV STEP NPRM—that requires safety cases addressing topics such as vehicle fallback and human‑machine interfaces, and they follow NHTSA’s March 10, 2022 final rule that amended occupant‑protection FMVSS to account for vehicles without traditional driving controls. (nhtsa.gov) Law‑firm and industry summaries describe the actions as incremental, deregulatory adjustments intended to remove requirements tied to a human driver (for example, driver‑facing displays and driver‑centric test procedures) so standards can accommodate novel ADS vehicle designs. (environmentalhealthsafetybrief.sidley.com)
