The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has finally released its new rules for self-driving cars, marking a significant step towards the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles. The proposed framework, known as the ADS-Equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency and Evaluation Program (AV STEP), promises to ease the regulatory process for companies developing fully driverless cars. However, there's a catch: in exchange for this streamlined process, companies will be required to provide more data to the agency.

The AV STEP program aims to provide a national framework for the evaluation and oversight of autonomous vehicles, allowing companies to commercialize more vehicles without traditional controls like pedals and steering wheels. This would bypass the current annual cap on exemptions to safety requirements, which has limited the number of autonomous vehicles on the road. NHTSA Chief Counsel Adam Raviv emphasized the importance of safe, transparent, and responsible development of autonomous vehicle technology, stating that the proposed program lays the foundation for these goals and supports the agency's safety mission.

The federal government has largely taken a back seat in regulating autonomous vehicles, leaving states to develop their own rulebooks for safe deployment. Legislation aimed at increasing the number of autonomous vehicles on the road has been stalled in Congress for over seven years, with lawmakers at odds over issues like safety, liability, and exemptions from federal motor vehicle safety standards. The new rules could be a game-changer for companies that have been working on autonomous vehicle technology for decades without a national regulatory framework to guide them.

However, the proposed rules come with a price. Companies will be required to provide more data to NHTSA, which the agency claims is necessary to foster public trust in the technology. This could be a significant hurdle for companies, which have been hesitant to share data in the past. The agency's request for more transparency is also notable given the current political landscape. The incoming Trump administration has reportedly been looking to quash a Biden-era transparency rule that requires companies operating vehicles with driver assist and self-driving cars to report crashes and injuries to the federal government.

Safety advocates have expressed concerns about the proposed rules, calling them "premature" and unnecessary. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Cathy Chase noted that the proposal is oddly timed, coming after the auto industry lobbied NHTSA to scrap a new rule requiring automatic emergency braking in new vehicles by 2029. Chase argued that allowing more complex technology to control driving functionalities without meeting minimum safety standards is "incongruous at best and potentially deadly at worst."

The future of AV STEP is uncertain, with the incoming Trump administration's stance on autonomous vehicle regulation unclear. While the proposed rules could be a significant step forward for the industry, they may not survive into the next administration. The fact that NHTSA is highlighting the "enhanced transparency" under AV STEP could lead some to conclude that this rule is dead on arrival, especially given Trump's reported plans to ease restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles in advance of Tesla's plans to produce its own robotaxi in 2026.

Despite the uncertainty, the proposed rules mark a significant development in the autonomous vehicle industry. As the technology continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how companies will respond to NHTSA's demands for more data and whether the proposed rules will ultimately pave the way for the widespread adoption of fully driverless cars.