CALIFORNIA REGULATORY NOTICE REGISTER 2017, VOLUME NO. 10-Z
 319formation upon which its proposal is based, and has
available the express terms of the proposed action. A
copy of the initial statement of reasons and the proposed
regulations in underline and strikeout form may be ob-
tained upon request. The location of the information on
which the proposal is based may also be obtained upon
request. In addition, when completed, the final state-ment of reasons will be available upon request. Re-
quests should be directed to the contact named herein.
If the regulations adopted by the Department differ
from, but are suf ficiently related to the action proposed,
they will be available to the public for at least 15 days
prior to the date of adoption. Any person interested may
obtain a copy of said regulations prior to the date ofadoption by contacting the agency officer (contact)
named herein.
TITLE 13. DEPARTMENT OF
MOTOR VEHICLES
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
The Department of Motor Vehicles (department or
DMV) proposes to amend Sections 227.00, 227.02,
227.04, 227.12, 227.14, 227.16, 227.18, 227.20,227.22, 227.24, 227.26, 227.28, 227.30, 227.32,227.34, 227.36, 227.38, 227.42, 227.44, 227.46,
227.48, 227.50, and 227.52 in Article 3.7 and adopt
Sections 228.00, 228.02, 228.04, 228.06, 228.08,228.10, 228.12, 228.14, 228.16, 228.18, 228.20,
228.22, 228.24, 228.26, 228.28, and 228.30, in Article
3.8, Chapter 1, Division 1, Title 13 of the CaliforniaCode of Regulations, relating to Autonomous V ehicles.
PUBLIC HEARING
A public hearing has been scheduled to provide inter-
ested parties an opportunity to provide statements, both
oral and in writing, on this proposed regulatory action.
The department will hold the hearing beginning at
10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at the Depart-ment of Water Resources, 1416 9th Street, Sacramento,
California.
The hearing will be held in the Auditorium, which is
accessible to persons with disabilities. Parking near the
hearing venue is limited, so please plan accordingly.
The public hearing will conclude when all attendees
who wish to comment have provided their comment. Ifnecessary, the department reserves the right to limit the
length of time each participant has to comment.DEADLINE FOR WRITTEN COMMENTS
Any interested party or his or her duly authorized rep-
resentative may submit written comments relevant to
the proposed regulations to the contact person identi-fied in this notice. All written comments must be re-ceived at the department no later than 5:00 p.m., April
24, 2017, the final day of the written comment period, in
order for them to be considered by the department be-fore it adopts the proposed regulation.
AUTHORITY AND REFERENCE
The department proposes to adopt this regulation un-
der the authority granted by Vehicle Code section 1651,
in order to implement, interpret, or make specific Vehi-
cle Code section 38750.
INFORMATIVE DIGEST/POLICY STATEMENT
OVERVIEW
Current law requires the department, upon applica-
tion and payment of fees, to register vehicles that are be-
ing operated in the state. The department’s registrationactivities are administered by the Registration Opera-
tions Division. The department’s Licensing Operations
Division is responsible for establishing occupational li-
cense application requirements and issuing occupation-
al licenses or permits to applicants.
Senate Bill 1298 (Chapter 570; Statutes of 2012) en-
acted Vehicle Code section 38750, which requires theDMV to adopt regulations necessary to ensure the safeoperation of autonomous vehicles on public roads, with
or without the presence of a driver inside the vehicle.
The department initially adopted regulations for thetesting of autonomous vehicles that require the pres-
ence of a driver inside the vehicle in 2014. Currently
there are 21 manufacturers testing autonomous vehicles
with test drivers behind the wheel on public streets inCalifornia. Senate Bill 1298 contemplated that the tech-
nology being developed would include vehicles that do
not require the presence of a driver inside the vehicles.Since the adoption of the current testing regulations, the
capabilities of autonomous technology has proceeded
to the point where manufacturers have developed sys-
tems that are capable of operating without the presence
of a driver inside the vehicle.
The department is amending Article 3.7 to include the
testing of vehicles that do not require the presence of a
driver inside the vehicle and ensure the testing of suchvehicles is conducted on California public roads in a
safe manner. In Article 3.7 the department has set forth
all of the requirements for a Manufacturer’s TestingPermit, which is the permit issued to manufacturerstesting vehicles that require a driver inside the vehicle,CALIFORNIA REGULATORY NOTICE REGISTER 2017, VOLUME NO. 10-Z
 320and a Manufacturer’s Testing Permit — Driverless Ve-
hicles. The proposed regulations promote the develop-
ment of autonomous technology that has the potential to
increase safety and enhance mobility , while focusing on
issues related to roadway safety, compliance with Cali-
fornia laws, driver licensing, and vehicle registration.
Vehicle Code § 38750 requires the DMV to adopt reg-
ulations setting forth the requirements for the submis-
sion and approval of an application by autonomous ve-
hicle manufacturers, as defined by subdivision (a) ofthat section, for the operation of autonomous vehiclesby the public on public roads. For ease of reference, thedepartment refers to the operation of autonomous vehi-cles by members of the public as “deployment.” V ehicle
Code § 38750 also requires that the regulations include
requirements that the DMV concludes are necessary for
the safe operation of autonomous vehicles on publicroads. The department is adding Article 3.8 to specifythe requirements to deploy autonomous vehicles, in-cluding vehicles that do not require the presence of adriver inside the vehicle.
The department has conducted several workshops
that were attended by vehicle manufacturers, technolo-
gy companies, members of academia, insurance repre-sentatives, and privacy advocates. The most recentworkshop was held in October 2016 in Sacramento. As
a result of those discussions, the department has createda regulatory action that allows for the testing and public
deployment of autonomous vehicles that do not require
a driver.
Following are some key aspects of the department’s
proposed regulatory approach:
Section 227.38 — Manufacturer’s Permit to Test
Autonomous V ehicles that do not Require a Driver.
This section adopts requirements that a manufacturer
must fulfill in order for the department to grant access to
test vehicles that do not require a driver. Specifically,the manufacturer is required to submit an applicationform, provide written support from the jurisdiction in
which the vehicles will be tested, certify that there is a
communication link in the vehicles, provide the depart-
ment with information related to the intended opera-tional design domain, provide a copy of the law en-forcement interaction plan, maintain a training program
for remote operators, provide certain disclosures to ve-
hicle passengers, submit a copy of the safety assessment
letter submitted to NHTSA as specified in the Vehicle
Performance Guidance in the NHTSA Federal Auto-mated V ehicles Policy, and payment of the required fee.
Section 227.42 — Suspension or Revocation of
Autonomous V ehicle T esting Permit.This section establishes the department’s authority to
suspend or revoke a testing permit and the reasons for
which a permit would be suspended or revoked.
Article 3.8 — Deployment of Autonomous V ehicles
The department is adopting Article 3.8 to establish
rules related to the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
To avoid confusion, Article 3.7 solely governs the test-
ing portion of autonomous vehicles while Article 3.8
governs the public deployment of autonomousvehicles.
Section 228.04 — Financial Requirements for a Permit
to Deploy Autonomous Vehicle son Public Roads.
This section identifies the financial requirements for
the public deployment of autonomous vehicles. While
similar to those requirements in testing, this section
adopts forms that are specific to deployment.
Section 228.06 — Application for a Permit for
Post−T esting Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles on
Public Roadways.
This section identifies the application process for a
manufacturer seeking to deploy vehicles on public
roadways. The application requirements include sub-mission of the specified application form, certification
that the vehicles have a communication link with the
ability to transfer vehicle owner information, submis-
sion of a NHTSA exemption if the vehicle is not
equipped with manual controls but complies with all
other Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, certifi-cation of registration with the NHTSA, and submission
of a consumer education plan, a copy of the law enforce-
ment interaction plan, a copy of specified written dis-
closures, a copy of the safety assessment letter submit-
ted to NHTSA as specified in the V ehicle Performance
Guidance in the NHTSA Federal Automated Vehicles
Policy, and test data demonstrating the vehicle has been
tested in its intended operational design domain. Thissection also adopts a dditional requirements for vehicles
that are capable of operating without a driver.
Section 228.08 — Review of Application
This section identifies the department’s timelines re-
lated to the review of applications, as well as the depart-
ment’s communications when an application is deemed
incomplete or in need of correction.
Section 228.12 — Reporting Safety Defects
This section requires a manufacturer that has identi-
fied a safety−related defect in its autonomous technolo-
gy to submit to the department a copy of the report pre-
pared in compliance with Part 573 of Title 49, Code ofFederal Regulations.CALIFORNIA REGULATORY NOTICE REGISTER 2017, VOLUME NO. 10-Z
 321Section 228.22 — Administrative Procedures for
Suspension or Revocation of a Permit.
This section identifies the administrative procedures
available to a manufacturer whose permit was suspend-
ed or revoked. This section describes the department’sadministrative hearing process and timeframes.
Section 228.24 — Information Privacy
This section requires the manufacturer to provide a
written disclosure to the driver describing the informa-
tion collected by the autonomous technology that is not
necessary for the safe operation of the vehicle or
anonymize the information that is not necessary.
Section 228.30 — Statements About Autonomous
Technology
This section prohibits manufacturers from advertis-
ing a vehicle as being autonomous unless it meets cer-tain requirements and prohibits the use of terms todescribe the performance of a vehicle in a manner that
would induce a person to believe a vehicle is
autonomous.
PROBLEMS THIS DEPARTMENT INTENDS TO
ADDRESS AND BENEFITS ANTICIPATED FROM
THE REGULATORY ACTION
To make specific the requirements that must be satis-
fied for issuance of a permit to test and deploy autono-
mous vehicles with or without a driver inside the vehi-cle on the public roadways of the State of California.These regulations are expanded to implement applica-
tion and other requirements for driverless vehicles, pro-
visions related to the suspension of an autonomous ve-
hicle testing permit, implement application and otherrequirements for the deployment of autonomous vehi-
cles, and provide clarification to existing autonomous
vehicle regulations. These regulations will allow auton-
omous vehicle manufacturers, as defined in Vehicle
Code § 38750, to develop and test autonomous vehi-
cles, including vehicles that can operate without a driv-
er inside the vehicle, on public roadways and to deploythose vehicles in a way that provides the assurance of
safety to the public in general.
COMPARABLE FEDERAL AND
STATE REGULATIONS
The National Highway T raffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) establishes motor vehicle safety standards on
the federal level. On May 30, 2013, NHTSA issued a
“Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Auto-
mated V ehi cles” to “help states implement this technol-
ogy safely so that its full benefits can be realized.” TheNHTSA policy statement affirmed that “NHTSA is re-sponsible for developing, setting, and enforcing Feder-
al motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSSs) and regu-
lations for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equip-ment.” NHTSA indicated that the U.S Department of
Transportation was researching the introduction of au-
tomated cars onto public roadways and advised states to
leave safety standards up to federal regulators.
On September 20, 2016, NHTSA released the Feder-
al Automated Vehicles Policy (“Policy”) to establish a
national framework for the safe tes ting an d deployment
of highly automated and autonomous vehicles.NHTSA’s Policy includes a “Vehicle Performance
Guidance for Automated Vehicles” that specifies a re-
porting process consisting of a 15−point safety assess-ment letter that outlines how a vehicle manufacturer is
meeting the Guidance; however, NHTSA has not final-
ized the safety assessment submission process. NHTSA
has not adopted any regulations governing the testing or
operation of automated, or self−driving, vehicles on
public roads, streets, and highways. Additionally, the
department conducted a review of other agencies andfound that no other state agency currently has regula-tions governing autonomous vehicles; therefore, there
are no comparable federal or state regulations concern-
ing the testing or deployment of autonomous vehicleson public roads.
The department conducted a review of state regula-
tions and has determined that this regulatory action is
not incompatible with existing state regulations.
CONSISTENCY AND COMPATIBILITY WITH
OTHER STATE REGULATIONS
During the process of developing these regulations,
the department has conducted a search of any similar
regulations on the topic of autonomous vehicles and has
concluded that these regulations are neither inconsis-
tent 
nor incompatible with existing state regulations.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED
BY REFERENCE
The following documents are incorporated by refer-
ence:
/C0068 Autonomous Vehicle Tester (A VT) Program
Application for Manufacturer’s Testing Permit,
form OL 311
/C0068 Autonomous V ehicle Testing (A VT) Program Test
Vehicle Permit, form OL 313
/C0068 Autonomous Vehicle Testing (A VT) Program
Manufacturer Permit — Driverless V ehicles, form
OL 315A
/C0068 Report of Traffic Collision Involving anAutonomous V ehicle, form OL 316CALIFORNIA REGULATORY NOTICE REGISTER 2017, VOLUME NO. 10-Z
 322/C0068 Autonomous Vehicles Manufacturer Deployment
Program Surety Bond, form OL 317A
/C0068 Autonomous Vehicle Tester (A VT) Program
Application for Manufacturer’s Testing PermitDriverless V ehicles, form OL 318
/C0068 Autonomous Vehicle Tester (A VT) Program
Application for Certificate of Self−Insurance,form OL 319
/C0068 Autonomous Vehicle Manufacturer’s
Deployment Program Application for Certificate
of Self−Insurance, form OL 319A
/C0068 Application for a Permit to Deploy AutonomousVehicles on Public Streets, form OL 321
These documents will not be published in the Califor-
nia Code of Regulations because it would be impracti-cal and cumbersome to do so; however, the documentsare readily available to interested parties on the depart-
ment’s website or by contacting the department repre-
sentative identified below.
ECONOMIC AND FISCAL
IMPACT DETERMINATIONS
The department has made the following initial deter-
minations concerning the proposed regulatory action:
/C0068 Cost or Savings to Any State Agency: None.
/C0068 Other Non−Discretionary Cost or Savings to
Local Agencies: None.
/C0068 Costs or Savings in Federal Funding to the State:
None.
/C0068 Cost Impact on Representative Private Persons or
Businesses: This action contains application fees.
The fees are in an amount to offset the cost of the
autonomous vehicle program. While the
application fees are costly, the department does not
anticipate that any vehicle manufacturers would
find the fee prohibitive.
/C0068 Effects on Housing Costs: None.
/C0068 Local Agency/School District Mandates: The
proposed regulatory action will not impose amandate on local agencies or school districts, or a
mandate that requires reimbursement pursuant to
Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) ofDivision 4 of the Government Code.
/C0068 Small Business Impact: None.
/C0068 Significant statewide adverse economic impact
directly affecting businesses, including the ability
of California businesses to compete withbusinesses in other states: None.RESULTS OF THE ECONOMIC
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The department has conducted an economic impact
assessment on this proposed action and has determined
that this action will not create or eliminate jobs, create
or eliminate existing businesses, or expand businessescurrently doing business within the State of California.
The department has also determined that the pro-
posed regulatory action is not likely to impact the health
and worker safety or the environment, however, theproposed regulation intends to provide assurance of
safety to the general public when technology manufac-
turers and researchers are developing, testing and de-ploying automated vehicle driving systems on publicroadways.
PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS OF
PROPOSED REGULATIONS
As described in the Informative Digest, the depart-
ment has conducted several workshops that were at-
tended by vehicle manufacturers, technology compa-nies, members of academia, insurance representatives,and privacy advocates. The most recent workshop was
held in October 2016 in Sacramento.
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
The department must determine that no reasonable
alternative considered by the department or that has
otherwise been identified and brought to the attention of
the department would be more effective in carrying outthe purpose for which the action is proposed, or would
be effective as and less burdensome to affected private
persons than the proposed action, or would be morecost−ef fective to affected private persons and equally
effective in implementing the statutory policy or other
provisions of law.
CONTACT PERSON
Any inquiries or comments concerning the proposed
rulemaking action may be addressed to:
Brian G. Soublet, Deputy Director/Chief Counsel
Department of Motor V ehicles
Legal Af fairs Division
P.O. Box 932382, MS C−244 Sacramento, CA 94232−3820
Any inquiries or comments concerning the proposed
rulemaking action requiring more immediate responsemay use:CALIFORNIA REGULATORY NOTICE REGISTER 2017, VOLUME NO. 10-Z
 323Telephone: (916) 657−6469
Facsimile: (916) 657−6243
E−Mail: LADRegulations@dmv .ca.gov
In the event the contact person is unavailable, in-
quiries should be directed to the following back−upperson:
Randi Calkins, Regulations Analyst 
Telephone: (916) 657−8898
A V AILABILITY OF STATEMENT OF REASONS
AND TEXT OF PROPOSED REGULATIONS
The department has prepared an Initial Statement of
Reasons for the proposed regulatory action, and has
available all the information upon which the proposal is
based. The contact person identified in this notice shall
make available to the public upon request the ExpressTerms of the proposed regulatory action using under-
line or italics to indicate additions to, and strikeout to in-
dicate deletions from the California Code ofRegulations.
The contact person identified in this notice shall also
make available to the public, upon request, the FinalStatement of Reasons and the location of publicrecords, including reports, documentation and other
materials related to the proposed action. In addition, the
above−cited materials (the Notice of Proposed Regula-tory Action, the Initial Statement of Reasons, and Ex-press T erms) may be accessed at:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/dmv/dmvhomes/
regulatoryactions .
A V AILABILITY OF MODIFIED TEXT
Following the written comment period, and the hear-
ing if one is held, the department may adopt the pro-posed regulations substantially as described in this no-
tice. If modifications are made that are sufficiently re-
lated to the originally proposed text, the fully modified
text, with changes clearly indicated, shall be made
available to the public for at least 15 days prior to the
date on which the department adopts the resulting regu-
lations. Request for copies of any modified regulations
should be addressed to the department contact person
identified in this notice. The department will accept
written comments on the modified regulations for 15days after the date on which they are first made avail-able to the public.TITLE 13. DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR
VEHICLES
I. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
The Department of Motor V ehicles (department) pro-
poses to amend Sections 205.00, 205.02, 205.04,205.06, 205.08, 205.12, and 205.14 in Article 3.3, Divi-
sion 1, Chapter 1 of the California Code of Regulations,
relating to Special Plates.
/C0068 Public Hearing:  A public hearing regarding this
proposed regulatory action is not scheduled.However, a public hearing will be held if any
interested person or his or her duly authorized
representative requests a public hearing to be held
relevant to the proposed action by submitting awritten request to the contact person identified in
this notice no later than 5:00 p.m., fifteen (15) days
prior to the close of the written comment period.
/C0068 Deadline for W ritten Comments : Any interested
party or his or her duly authorized representative
may submit written comments relevant to theproposed regulations to the contact personidentified in this notice. All written comments
must be received at the department no later than
5:00 p.m., April 24, 2017
, the final day of the
written comment period, in order for them to be
considered by the department before it adopts the
proposed regulation.
/C0068 Authority and Reference:  The department
proposes to adopt these regulations under the
authority granted by Vehicle Code sections 1651
and 5004.1, in order to implement, interpret, ormake specific Vehic le Code section 5004.1.
II.INFORMATIVE DIGEST/POLICY
STATEMENT OVERVIEW
Assembly Bill (AB) 462 (Chapter 497, Statutes of
2007) amended V ehicle Code section 5004.1 relating to
Model Year Date License Plates, commonly known asthe Year of Manufacture (YOM) Program. Thoseamendments allowed a 1969 or older model passenger
vehicle or a 1972 or older model commercial vehicle to
utilize previously−issued California license plates thatcorrespond to the model year of the vehicle when it was
originally produced. The department, under authority
granted by Vehicle Code sections 1651 and 5110,adopted regulations in March 2010 to specify which li-
cense plate configurations would be acceptable for reg-
istration under the YOM program.
The department began issuing license plates for vehi-
cle registration purposes in 1914 and since then has is-
sued license plates in numerous configurations of back-