Autonomous vehicles

The law is designed to ensure autonomous vehicles can promptly respond to emergency officials, avoid hazards, and be removed when immobilized or unsafe. It adds public reporting, state oversight, and local civil enforcement.

What the law does ​

• Requires manufacturers to maintain enough communications and remote-support capacity to handle planned simultaneous assistance or teleoperation needs.
• Requires remote drivers to be in the United States and hold a California-valid license with the proper class and endorsements.
• Requires immediate dispatch of local incident technicians after specified crashes, hazards, emergency-official requests, or fleetwide failures, and requires notice to affected local jurisdictions during qualifying fleetwide failures.
• Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to set reasonable onsite-response-time guidelines by July 1, 2028.
• Requires commercial autonomous vehicles without manual driving controls to be remotely placed in neutral, moved as directed, or shut down for emergency officials, with onsite or tow response if they cannot be moved.
• Requires quarterly manufacturer data reports on incidents and response times, Department of Motor Vehicles publication of manufacturer-level summary statistics, and permits data sharing with the California Public Utilities Commission.
• Requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to approve manufacturer override training and guidance and offer voluntary law-enforcement training and guidelines.
• Allows city attorneys and county counsel to seek civil penalties for specified failures to dispatch technicians or prolonged emergency-related obstructions.

Who it affects ​

• Autonomous-vehicle manufacturers operating vehicles without an in-vehicle human driver.
• Remote drivers, remote assistants, and local incident technicians.
• Emergency dispatchers, first responders, law-enforcement officers, and public-agency traffic and parking personnel.
• Cities and counties enforcing the requirements.

Context ​

The law takes effect July 1, 2028.

Breakdown ​

Autonomous Vehicle Emergency Response Rules ​

The bill adds emergency-response, remote-operation, and reporting requirements for autonomous vehicle manufacturers. It requires qualified U.S.-based remote drivers, prompt dispatch of local technicians after incidents or official requests, and communication with local authorities during fleetwide failures. It also creates civil enforcement tools for local governments.

Key takeaways

• Manufacturers must maintain enough communications capacity to handle the maximum number of remote-assistance or remote-driving sessions at the same time.
• Remote drivers must be located in the United States and hold a California-valid license of the proper class, including any required endorsements.
• Manufacturers must promptly send local incident technicians after a crash or other incident, or when requested by an emergency official or 911 dispatch center.
• During a fleetwide emergency or system failure that could create traffic hazards or hinder emergency response, manufacturers must immediately notify affected local jurisdictions about the fleet’s location and status and deploy technicians when vehicles cannot be recovered remotely.
• By July 1, 2028, the Department of Motor Vehicles must adopt reasonable response-time guidelines for local incident technicians requested by emergency officials or 911 dispatch centers.
• For certain commercial autonomous vehicles without manual driving controls, manufacturers must ensure remote personnel can put the vehicle in neutral, move it as directed by emergency officials, or turn it off and keep it stationary.
• Manufacturers must report incident-response and fleet-emergency data to the department every quarter, and the department must publish summary statistics.
• Violations are not crimes, but city attorneys and county counsel may bring civil enforcement actions that can result in civil penalties.

POST Training on Autonomous Vehicles ​

The bill requires POST to set statewide standards and approve the training and written guidance that autonomous vehicle manufacturers must provide. It also requires POST to create voluntary training and guidance for law enforcement officers and agencies on public-safety issues involving autonomous commercial vehicles. POST may charge fees to cover the costs of administering these duties.

Key takeaways

• POST must develop uniform requirements and guidelines for manufacturer-provided autonomous vehicle training and written guidance.
• POST must approve the training and written guidance that autonomous vehicle manufacturers are required to provide.
• POST may impose fees sufficient to cover its reasonable costs for administering these requirements.
• POST must create voluntary courses for law enforcement officers about public-safety issues involving autonomous vehicles operating as commercial vehicles.
• POST must develop uniform minimum guidelines for California law enforcement agencies to use voluntarily.
• POST must develop the courses, objectives, standards, and guidelines in consultation with relevant groups and experts on autonomous vehicle operations.

Effective Date ​

This part delays when the bill’s provisions take effect. The changes made by the bill become operative on July 1, 2028.

Key takeaways

• The bill’s provisions become operative on July 1, 2028.
• The bill does not make its changes operative before that date.