The State of California has made significant changes to the autonomous vehicle landscape through Assembly Bill No. 1777.
The first is that state lawmakers have closed a loophole that prevented driverless vehicles from being issued citations. The previous legislation stated that the person behind the wheel would be liable for a violation, but officers could not issue a ticket to a driverless vehicle. Now, a robotaxi can be issued a notice of non-compliance, and the manufacturer will be responsible for paying the ticket.
To keep companies responsible, the new law will force manufacturers to report the citation within 72 hours. Failure to do so empowers the California Department of Motor Vehicles to impose stricter sanctions, including capping fleet sizes and suspending permits for repeat offenders.
In addition, lawmakers have given first responders greater control over robotaxis, allowing them to move vehicles obstructing fire and rescue operations. The legislation requires vehicles to respond to first responders’ commands and will use a variety of tech to do so, including geofencing to prevent driverless vehicles from approaching live operations.
The other major change that lawmakers made is that the state has lifted the ban on heavy-duty autonomous trucks. To be road-certified, vehicles weighing more than 10,001 lbs and medium-sized trucks weighing over 14,001 pounds will need to undergo 500,000 miles of testing with a human driver on board. Once completed, the vehicles can then move to fully driverless operations.
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