G/TBT/N/USA/1593  
31 March 2020  
(20-2585) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AME RICA  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 
Department of Transportation (DOT) [1620]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle com ments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Please submit comments to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point, Email: usatbtep@nist.gov  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [X], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Motor 
vehicle occupant protection; Quality (ICS 03.120), Test conditions and procedures in 
general (ICS 19.020), Crash protection and restraint systems (ICS 43.040.80)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Occupant 
Protectio n for Automated Driving Systems (34 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of content:  Notice of proposed rulemaking - This proposal is one of a series 
of regulatory actions that NHTSA is considering to address the near - and long -term 
challenges of testing a nd verifying compliance with the Federal motor vehicle safety 
standards (FMVSS) for vehicles equipped with Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that 
lack the traditional manual controls necessary for human drivers, but that are otherwise 
traditional vehicles wi th typical seating configurations. This document seeks to clarify the 
ambiguities in applying current crashworthiness standards to ADS -equipped vehicles 
without traditional manual controls, while maintaining the regulatory text's application to 
more tradit ional vehicles and vehicles equipped with ADS that may have alternate modes. 
This proposal is limited to the crashworthiness standards and provides a unified set of 
proposed regulatory text applicable to vehicles with and without ADS functionality. This 
NPRM builds on NHTSA's efforts to identify and address regulatory barriers to vehicles 
with unique designs that are equipped with ADS technologies, including the advance 
notice of proposed rulemaking on removing barriers in the crash avoidance (100 Series) 
FMVSS in May 2019, the request for comments on this topic in January 2018, and the 
research that NHTSA is currently conducting. NHTSA also intends to issue a separate 
notice regarding removal of barriers in the FMVSS that pertain to telltales, indicators, 
alerts, and warnings in ADS -equipped vehicles.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Prevention of deceptive practices and consumer protection; Protection of 
human health or safety  G/TBT/N/USA/1593  
 
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  8. Relevant documents:   
• 85 Federal Register (FR) 17624, 30 March 2020; Title 49 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 571:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-03-30/html/2020 -05886.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2020-03-30/pdf/2020 -05886.pdf  
• G/TBT/N/USA/1405 and USA/1405/Add.1  - Advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking (ANPRM): Pilot Program for Collaborative Research on Motor 
Vehicles With High or F ull Driving Automation, National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration (NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT)  
• G/TBT/N/USA/1487 and USA/1487/Add.1  - Advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking (ANPRM): Removing Regulatory Barriers for Vehicles With 
Automated Driving Systems, Nationa l Highway Traffic Safety Administration 
(NHTSA), Department of Transportation (DOT)  
• Removing Regulatory Barriers for Vehicles With Automated Driving Systems; 
Request for comment published 18 January 2018:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2018-01-18/html/2018 -00671.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2018-01-18/pdf/2018 -00671.pdf  
• Automat ed Driving Systems 2.0: A Vision for Safety: 
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/documents/13069a -
ads2.0_090617_v9a_tag.pdf  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  29 May 2020  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/USA/20_2265_00_e.pdf