Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Modernization of FMVSS No. 108 To Accommodate ADS-Equipped Vehicles
Key claim: NHTSA is proposing to update federal vehicle lighting rules so fully driverless cars would not need traditional driver-operated turn-signal, hazard, and headlamp switches, and could optionally display cyan marker lamps to identify themselves as autonomous.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Transportation Department, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) NHTSA is proposing to amend Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108, “Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.” The proposed updates to the standard are intended to remove unnecessary requirements and to provide design flexibility without impact on vehicle safety. The first two proposed changes would amend the test voltage specification for integral beam type headlamps and remove requirements that apply to vertical headlamp arrangements. Further proposed changes address vehicles equipped with Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that do not have manually operated driving controls. Those modifications would limit the application of certain requirements for manually operated turn signal, hazard warning signal, and beam switching controls to vehicles with manually operated driving controls. The changes are intended to address regulatory burdens and costs associated with equipment that does not fulfill the same purpose or provide safety benefits in an ADS-equipped vehicle without manually operated driving controls as in a vehicle with such controls. The changes would also narrow certain requirements for telltales to vehicles with manually operated driving controls and incorporate the term “telltale” where appropriate throughout the standard. Finally, a proposed addition to the standard would allow cyan-colored ADS marker lamps as optional motor vehicle lighting equipment in ADS-equipped vehicles.
Why this matters
This proposed rule continues NHTSA’s piecemeal retrofit of legacy motor vehicle safety standards to accommodate driverless vehicles, after the earlier FMVSS 135 (brakes) amendment and the withdrawal of the broader AV STEP program. For ADS developers and automakers, it removes a specific design barrier (human-only lighting controls) and introduces an optional federally recognized visual signal (cyan marker lamps) for autonomous status; for other road users, it would standardize a cue indicating a vehicle is operating without a human driver. The action is narrow — a lighting-standard amendment, not a comprehensive AV safety framework — and remains at the NPRM stage.