SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to memorialize the Federal 
role in ensuring the safety of highly automated vehicles 
as it relates to design, construction, and performance, by 
encouraging the testing and deployment of such vehicles. 
SEC. 3. NHTSA AUTHORITY AND STATE PREEMPTION FOR 
AUTONOMOUS MOTOR VEHICLES. 
(a) RELATIONSHIP
TO
OTHER
LAWS.—Section 
30103 of title 49, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(b) PREEMPTION.— 
‘‘(1) 
HIGHLY
AUTOMATED
VEHICLES.—No 
State or political subdivision of a State may main-
tain, enforce, prescribe, or continue in effect any law 
or regulation regarding the design, construction, or 
performance of highly automated vehicles, auto-
mated driving systems, or components of automated 
driving systems unless such law or regulation is 
identical to a standard prescribed under this chap-
ter. 
‘‘(2) MOTOR
VEHICLE
STANDARD.—When a 
motor vehicle safety standard is in effect under this 
chapter a State or political subdivision of a State 
may prescribe or continue in effect a standard appli-
cable to the same aspect of performance of a motor 
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vehicle or motor vehicle equipment only if the stand-
ard is identical to the standard prescribed under this 
chapter. 
‘‘(3) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this sub-
section may be construed to prohibit a State or 
a political subdivision of a State from maintain-
ing, enforcing, prescribing, or continuing in ef-
fect any law or regulation regarding registra-
tion, licensing, driving education and training, 
insurance, law enforcement, crash investiga-
tions, safety and emission inspections, conges-
tion management of vehicles on the street with-
in a State or political subdivision of a State, or 
traffic unless the law or regulation is an unrea-
sonable restriction on the design, construction, 
or performance of highly automated vehicles, 
automated driving systems, or components of 
automated driving systems. 
‘‘(B) MOTOR VEHICLE DEALERS.—Nothing 
in this subsection may be construed to prohibit 
a State or political subdivision of a State from 
maintaining, enforcing, prescribing, or con-
tinuing in effect any law or regulation regard-
ing the sale, distribution, repair, or service of 
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highly automated vehicles, automated driving 
systems, or components of automated driving 
systems by a dealer, manufacturer, or dis-
tributor. 
‘‘(C) CONFORMITY WITH FEDERAL LAW.— 
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 
preempt, restrict, or limit a State or political 
subdivision of a State from acting in accordance 
with any other Federal law. 
‘‘(4) HIGHER PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT.— 
However, the United States Government, a State, or 
a political subdivision of a State may prescribe a 
standard for a motor vehicle, motor vehicle equip-
ment, highly automated vehicle, or automated driv-
ing system obtained for its own use that imposes a 
higher performance requirement than that required 
by the otherwise applicable standard under this 
chapter. 
‘‘(5) STATE ENFORCEMENT.—A State may en-
force a standard that is identical to a standard pre-
scribed under this chapter.’’; and 
(2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(e) COMMON LAW LIABILITY.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Compliance with a motor 
vehicle safety standard prescribed under this chapter 
does not exempt a person from liability at common 
law. 
‘‘(2) RULE
OF
CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 
this section shall be construed to preempt common 
law claims.’’. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 30102 of title 49, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) 
by 
redesignating 
paragraphs 
(1) 
through (13) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), 
(8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), (15), (16), and 
(17), respectively; 
(B) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as 
so redesignated) the following: 
‘‘(1) ‘automated driving system’ means the 
hardware and software that are collectively capable 
of performing the entire dynamic driving task on a 
sustained basis, regardless of whether such system is 
limited to a specific operational design domain.’’; 
(C) by inserting after paragraph (5) (as so 
redesignated) the following: 
‘‘(6) ‘dynamic driving task’ means all of the 
real time operational and tactical functions required 
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to operate a vehicle in on-road traffic, excluding the 
strategic functions such as trip scheduling and selec-
tion of destinations and waypoints, and including— 
‘‘(A) lateral vehicle motion control via 
steering; 
‘‘(B) longitudinal vehicle motion control 
via acceleration and deceleration; 
‘‘(C) monitoring the driving environment 
via object and event detection, recognition, clas-
sification, and response preparation; 
‘‘(D) object and event response execution; 
‘‘(E) maneuver planning; and 
‘‘(F) enhancing conspicuity via lighting, 
signaling, and gesturing. 
‘‘(7) ‘highly automated vehicle’— 
‘‘(A) means a motor vehicle equipped with 
an automated driving system; and 
‘‘(B) does not include a commercial motor 
vehicle (as defined in section 31101).’’; and 
(D) by inserting after paragraph (13) (as 
so redesignated) the following: 
‘‘(14) ‘operational design domain’ means the 
specific conditions under which a given driving auto-
mation system or feature thereof is designed to func-
tion.’’; and 
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(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) REVISIONS TO CERTAIN DEFINITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) If SAE International (or its successor or-
ganization) revises the definition of any of the terms 
defined in paragraph (1), (6), or (14) of subsection 
(a) in Recommended Practice Report J3016, it shall 
notify the Secretary of the revision. The Secretary 
shall publish a notice in the Federal Register to in-
form the public of the new definition unless, within 
90 days after receiving notice of the new definition 
and after opening a period for public comment on 
the new definition, the Secretary notifies SAE Inter-
national (or its successor organization) that the Sec-
retary has determined that the new definition does 
not meet the need for motor vehicle safety, or is oth-
erwise inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter. 
If the Secretary so notifies SAE International (or its 
successor organization), the existing definition in 
subsection (a) shall remain in effect. 
‘‘(2) If the Secretary does not reject a defini-
tion revised by SAE International (or its successor 
organization) as described in paragraph (1), the Sec-
retary shall promptly make any conforming amend-
ments to the regulations and standards of the Sec-
retary that are necessary. The revised definition 
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shall apply for purposes of this chapter. The require-
ments of section 553 of title 5 shall not apply to the 
making of any such conforming amendments. 
‘‘(3) Pursuant to section 553 of title 5, the Sec-
retary may update any of the definitions in para-
graph (1), (6), or (14) of subsection (a) if the Sec-
retary determines that materially changed cir-
cumstances regarding highly automated vehicles 
have impacted motor vehicle safety such that the 
definitions need to be updated to reflect such cir-
cumstances.’’. 
Æ 
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