The State of Play in California for Autonomous Vehicles

More autonomous vehicles are operating in California than anywhere else in America. And yet California has some of the most extensive autonomous regulations in the country. While some other states have taken a relatively laissez-faire approach to autonomous vehicles, California’s rules are lengthy and elaborate. Even as various operators have been able to work through the requirements to operate in the state, they have been a major lift. And autonomous heavy trucking has been entirely prohibited.

California’s regulations are also in a state of flux. In April 2025, the California Department of Motor Vehicles proposed a variety of modifications to its autonomous regulations. After a public comment period, instead of finalizing the rules, California again released a revised proposal on December 3, with a comment period that closed on December 18.  The proposal would modify California’s rules on autonomous vehicle testing and on deployment, and includes an extensive statement of reasons for the proposed changes.

Here are some of the key changes in the California proposal.

An Overview of the California Autonomous Permitting System

Currently, a manufacturer’s permission to put autonomous vehicles on the road in California proceeds in three ascending steps: testing with a safety driver behind the wheel, testing with no driver, and full deployment outside of a testing program. As of late November 2025, a total of 30 companies had received drivered testing permits; six companies had driverless testing permits; and three companies had deployment permits. Although the DMV’s proposal would not change the fundamental three-level permitting structure, it would modify many of the eligibility requirements and permitting processes.

Importantly, both the current California regulations and the proposed changes define “automated driving systems” subject to the rules to include not only the fully driverless SAE automation Levels 4 and 5, but also Level 3. A Level 3 autonomous system does not allow a vehicle to be fully driverless, but its autonomous system can take over the dynamic driving task under specified conditions. Several major manufacturers have introduced or announced production models with Level 3 capabilities.

Pre-Permit Testing Requirements

The DMV’s proposal would establish substantial testing requirements for permits. Before they can be eligible for a driverless testing permit, the proposal would require most manufacturers to first test their vehicles for at least 50,000 miles with a drivered testing permit. Operators of low-speed vehicles would only have to test for 10,000 miles and, as discussed below, heavy trucks would have much more extensive requirements.

An applicant for a driverless testing permit would also have to submit information on its drivered testing operations, including the total number of miles driven on public roads, the number of system failures and their causes, and collision reports.

Manufacturers with a driverless testing permit would likewise have to test an additional 50,000 miles (or 10,000 miles for low speed vehicles) before they could be eligible for a deployment permit under the proposal.

Safety Case and Certification Requirements

The revised regulations would require permit applicants to submit a comprehensive “safety case” for the DMV’s review that addresses the autonomous driving system’s “functional safety, safety of the intended function, Artificial Intelligence safety, cybersecurity, and operational safety.” The revised December 3 proposal adds language providing that “the department’s review of the safety case may involve consultation with third-party experts.”

Although it does not set objective performance standards, a safety case is a commonly used tool for validating the safety of a technology or system. The California proposal defines “safety case” in part as “a structured argument, supported by a body of relevant evidence, that provides a compelling, comprehensible, and valid case that safety engineering efforts have ensured an automated driving system does not pose an unreasonable risk of accident, death, injury, or exacerbating injury.”

Manufacturers seeking a driverless testing permit would also have to make various certifications regarding the effectiveness of their emergency response capabilities, as well as a developed plan for the vehicle to interact with first responders.

Incident Reporting

In addition to required reporting before receiving a permit, permitted manufacturers would also have to report on their ongoing operations. Federal regulators, in the form of NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01, already require autonomous operators to report most crashes involving their vehicles. The California proposal would impose additional requirements to report to the DMV, including collisions, “system failures” in which a safety driver needs to take over control of the vehicle, immobilizations, and certain braking events. Operators would also provide monthly reports on the total number of vehicle miles traveled.

The revised proposal would remove an existing requirement that autonomous operators report disengagements of the vehicle’s autonomous mode. The DMV explained that, according to the autonomous industry, disengagement “is no longer a meaningful metric of system safety performance as current autonomous vehicle operational experience grows; manufacturers rely on more direct safety indicators like collision rates relative to a human driver benchmark.”

Traffic Tickets for Autonomous Vehicles

The proposal adds a section for a “Notice of Autonomous Vehicle Noncompliance” — effectively a traffic ticket — that peace officers may issue for violations of the state’s Vehicle Code. The section includes instructions for officers on how to issue the notice and where to place it on the vehicle. Manufacturers must submit those notices to the DMV within 72 hours of receipt.

Remote Drivers

Some autonomous operators rely on remote human operators to deal with certain challenges their vehicles face. The proposal adds extensive requirements and qualifications for “remote drivers” who function as fallback operators of autonomous vehicles.

Heavy Trucking

Current California regulations prohibit the testing or deployment of autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating above 10,000 pounds — which amounts to a de facto ban on autonomous heavy trucking in the state, even as those trucks have begun operating elsewhere in the country. The California proposal would establish a pathway toward allowing autonomous heavy trucking, though they would require considerable testing.

To be eligible for a driverless testing permit under the proposal, an autonomous heavy-duty commercial motor vehicle manufacturer would first have to test the vehicle for at least 500,000 miles with a drivered testing permit — and at least 100,000 of those miles must be in California within the intended operational design domain.

Then, to be eligible for a non-testing deployment, the manufacturer of an autonomous heavy-duty commercial motor vehicle would have to test for at least another 500,000 miles — and again, at least 100,000 of those miles would have to be in California within the intended operational design domain.

Accordingly, before an autonomous heavy truck may deploy commercially under the proposal, it must test at least one million miles. This burden is considerable, though it is still a shift from California’s current complete ban.

And even fully permitted trucks would be limited in where they could go. The proposal would prohibit most heavy-duty vehicles from driverless testing or deployment on roads with a speed limit of 25 mph or less unless they are part of a direct route between “hubs, motor carrier and shipper facilities, distribution centers, fueling or charging stations, maintenance facilities or terminals …, or other non-residential facilities.”

Takeaways

• Although autonomous vehicles are increasingly ubiquitous in parts of California, the most recent proposal underscores that lawful operations in the state require careful attention to regulatory requirements and thoughtful engagement with state officials.
• If and when the revised California rules are finalized, manufacturers will have a new set of requirements for operating their vehicles in America’s most populous state. To the extent the new rules will make testing and deployment more difficult in certain respects, affected companies with pending applications may consider trying to finalize their permits before the new rules take effect.
• The state’s three-step permitting process for autonomous vehicles is not going away. Under the new proposal, driverless testing and deployment permits will require extensive testing and the submission of a robust safety case.
• Under the proposal, heavy trucks will have a path to autonomous operations in California — albeit a long and arduous one that requires at least a million miles of testing before deployment is allowed.
• The state government is not the only regulator of autonomous vehicles in California. Local governments can suspend a company’s operations in their jurisdictions and have even sued the state for allegedly being too lax in its oversight.
• The regulatory changes summarized above are far from the only changes in California’s lengthy and elaborate proposal. Companies seeking to operate in California would benefit from a careful review of the regulations carefully and consulting with experienced counsel.

This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.