A New Global Milestone for Autonomous Vehicles: What the UN Global Technical Regulation on Automated Driving Systems Means for Autonomy in the U.S. and Around the World
In late January, a United Nations regulatory body, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA), approved a Global Technical Regulation on Automated Driving Systems (ADS). The draft Global Technical Regulation (GTR), which took roughly 10 years to finalize, offers a framework for signatories on how to regulate and validate autonomous vehicles, emphasizing the “safety case” approach—a structured, evidence-based argument justifying the vehicle is sufficiently safe for market introduction. Rather than prescribing a single, bright-line performance metric, the framework leaves room for jurisdictions to be somewhat flexible in how they apply the guidance to their own, country-specific legal regimes.
NHTSA Delays Implementing Updates to the Five-Star Safety Ratings Program (NCAP)
On September 22, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a notice delaying by one year the upcoming implementation date for two recent updates to the agency’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). This change illustrates NCAP’s continuing importance to manufacturers and NHTSA’s recent willingness to push back the compliance dates of completed rulemakings. (more…)
California’s CEQA Reforms Offer Narrow Exemptions — With One Powerful Exception
The California legislature recently passed SB 131 and AB 130, two bills designed to streamline environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). While publicly touted as significant CEQA reform, the legal impact is more constrained, offering little relief for most industrial, commercial, or logistics-related development. SB 131 does, however, significantly expand the Governor’s discretionary power to designate certain large-scale private projects for streamlined CEQA treatment, offering potential opportunity for selected developers.
NHTSA Announces New Policies to Promote Autonomous Vehicles
On April 24, 2025, the Department of Transportation announced the new Automated Vehicle (AV) Framework from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The announcement, which was accompanied by a video from the Secretary of Transportation, included two new policy developments. First, NHTSA released a Third Amended version of its Standing General Order on Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Second, NHTSA announced that it would expand its exemption program for autonomous vehicles that do not fully comply with NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. This update discusses both developments and their broader implications.
New York Passes Second-in-the-Nation Climate Change Superfund Act
On Thursday, December 26, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the second-in-the-nation Climate Change Superfund Act (the “Act”). The Act had first passed the New York legislature in June 2024, shortly after Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act became law. See, Sidley Update.
