The autonomous-vehicle rulemaking wave
Where it stands: Federal rulemaking that covers every autonomous-vehicle maker, not one robot — proposals like NHTSA's on cyan lights and their comment windows as they close.
Latest
- 2026-10-24 (~9:00 AM ET, Electrek): a third federal front — NHTSA proposed letting vehicles use cyan-colored lights to identify when they are operating autonomously, alongside other additions meant to get roads ready for autonomous vehicles, framed as following marker-light systems already used by Mercedes and in China (electrek.co/2026). A rulemaking proposal rather than an enforcement step; if finalized it would put a visible marker on self-driving fleets, including controls-free robotaxi fleets of the kind the regulator is already auditing. Watch: comment period and final-rule timing, which operators adopt the marking, how it interacts with the FMVSS self-certification audit and the October 12 school-zone defect petition.