Waymo self-driving cars with roof-mounted sensor arrays traveling near palm trees and modern buildings along the Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, February 21, 2025.
Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
New rules for testing and deployment of self-driving vehicles are on the way in the state of California.
The California DMV announced on Friday that it is now seeking public comment on proposed regulations that would apply to self-driving vehicles from light-duty robotaxis like Waymo’s to heavy-duty driverless trucks like those from Plus.AI.
In a statement e-mailed to CNBC, a spokesperson for California DMV said the proposed regulations “offer the nation’s most comprehensive rules for the operation of autonomous vehicles and underscore the DMV’s commitment to enhancing public safety, fostering innovation, and establishing a robust framework for AV technology testing and deployment.”
With its engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, Elon Musk’s Tesla has been promising to deliver a self-driving vehicle and driverless ride-hailing service for years. But Tesla has not yet obtained permits in California for deployment of driverless vehicles there, and the company has not yet sold vehicles that are deemed safe to use without a person behind the wheel.
Competitors including Alphabet-owned Waymo, Amazon-owned Zoox and the Chinese AV company WeRide have all obtained a higher level of permits in California, and Waymo is already operating a robotaxi service in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The state’s vehicle safety authority has posted the regulations to its autonomous vehicles website, and it has begun accepting comments from the public for a 45-day period that will end June 9, 2025. After that, it plans to schedule a public hearing before implementing new regulations.
The proposed regulation would require driverless vehicle makers to obtain a permit for testing with a human safety driver on-board, then complete a certain number of test-drive miles. They would then need to obtain another permit for driverless testing, as well as a final permit to deploy driverless vehicles in California.
The new proposed rules would also allow autonomous trucks (weighing 10,001 pounds or more) to be tested on California’s public roads. They would also require all AV makers operating in the state to adhere to new data-reporting requirements and comply with the state’s standards for driverless vehicle interactions with first responders.
California’s updated regulations were announced after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would relax an order requiring automakers to report data on collisions that occur while drivers are using their partially-automated or more advanced automated driving systems.
In 2022, the California DMV sued Tesla, saying the company engaged in deceptive marketing and advertising practices around its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems. The company’s advanced driver assistance systems require a person behind the wheel, ready to steer at any moment. That case is ongoing.
