DOT and NHTSA Announce Autonomous Vehicle Framework
On April 24, 2025, US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Automated Vehicle (AV) Framework as part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) agenda to promote domestic innovation. NHTSA’s AV Framework includes three key principles: 1) prioritize the safety of ongoing AV operations on public roads; 2) unleash innovation by removing unnecessary regulatory barriers; and 3) enable commercial deployment of AVs to enhance safety and mobility for the American public. NHTSA is poised to explore further avenues to accelerate the domestic development of AVs.
Two initial actions under this Framework include the issuance of the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 and the expansion of the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program to include domestically produced vehicles.
Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01
In furtherance of the first principle, prioritizing safe operation of AVs, NHTSA issued a Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 (SGO) governing incident reporting for vehicles with Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 (or higher) Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).1 This Third Amended SGO takes effect June 16, 2025. In amending the SGO, the DOT and NHTSA seek to streamline the reporting process and focus on critical safety information through several key changes.
First, the Third Amended SGO eliminates the one-day timeline for incident reporting, and now requires submission of an incident report no later than five calendar days after receiving notice of the incident.2 Further, the Third Amended SGO eliminates the separate ten-day reporting requirement previously required under the SGO.
Additionally, the amended SGO revises the prior requirements for reporting incidents involving property damage by eliminating the requirement to report certain minor property-damage-only crashes. Under the amended SGO, for incidents that involve property damage only, there are two key incident characteristics that determine potential reportability: (1) the incident must be reported if the resulting property damage is reasonably expected to exceed $1,000;3 or (2) reporting is required if the property damage is not expected to exceed $1,000 but the subject vehicle was the only vehicle in the crash or the subject vehicle struck another vehicle or object.4 If the property damage incident falls in either of these two scenarios, it must be reported by the 15th day of the calendar month following the month in which notice of the incident was received.
Finally, monthly reports now will be required only after the receipt of materially new or materially different information for particular fields in the incident report. The fields that require updated monthly reporting for new or materially different information include: VIN, engagement status, source, highest severity alleged, subject vehicle damage, subject vehicle pre-crash movement, airbag deployment status for any vehicle involved, data availability, and narrative.5 Reporting entities will no longer need to report when there is no new information to provide.
Expansion of Automated Vehicle Exemption Program
In furtherance of the second principle—unleashing innovation—NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser announced in an open letter to AV developers that the Agency is expanding the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP) to include domestically produced vehicles. Under 49 C.F.R. Part 591, NHTSA grants exemptions to allow research and demonstrations on imported non-FMVSS-compliant vehicles.6 The open letter notes that this exemption program has been increasingly used for the development of AVs imported into the United States. As of this announcement, NHTSA will now accept requests for vehicles built in the United States to receive these same exemptions for research and demonstration purposes. NHTSA further indicated that it seeks to streamline the process for receiving the broader 49 C.F.R. Part 555 exemptions, which can include commercialization purposes.7
Conclusion
These recent announcements by DOT and NHTSA will be of particular interest to motor vehicle manufacturers and suppliers involved in the development of autonomous vehicle technologies or advanced driver-assistance systems. The announcements indicate a strong focus on accelerating the advancement and innovation of domestically produced AVs through the AV Framework. Future initiatives are expected to include modifications to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to encourage safe commercial deployment of AVs, and to promote innovation under this framework.
1 Nat’l Highway Traffic Safety Admin., Third Amended SGO 2021-01.
