Automated Vehicle Regulation in the United States
A plain-English guide to how automated driving systems — “self-driving” vehicles — are regulated in the US: what the federal government controls, what the states control, and what is changing.
There is no single national “self-driving law”
The most important thing to understand about the US is what it does not have: unlike some countries that have passed a single automated-vehicle statute, the United States regulates automated vehicles through a split between federal and state authority. Broadly, the federal government regulates the vehicle — how it is built and whether it is safe — while the states regulate the driver, the registration and how the vehicle is operated on their roads. There is no national operating permit that lets an automated vehicle drive itself in every state; that side is governed state by state.
The federal role: NHTSA
At the federal level, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, sets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that vehicles must meet, administers exemptions from those standards, investigates safety defects and can order recalls, and collects crash data. Many FMVSS were written assuming a human driver and controls such as a steering wheel and pedals, so a purpose-built driverless vehicle can require an exemption — which is one of the areas the federal framework is actively working on.1
The Standing General Order on crash reporting
One concrete, live federal requirement is NHTSA’s Standing General Order (SGO) on crash reporting. It requires named manufacturers and operators of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS) and Level 2 advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) to report certain crashes to NHTSA. For an ADS vehicle, a crash is reportable where the system was engaged within 30 seconds of the crash and it involved property damage, an airbag deployment, a vulnerable road user being struck, someone transported for medical treatment, or a fatality. For Level 2 ADAS the threshold is narrower — the same triggers but excluding property-damage-only crashes. Since a June 2025 amendment, the most serious crashes are reported within five days and less serious ones on a monthly basis. Consumers do not report; the obligation sits with the manufacturers and operators the order names.2
The state role
The states control licensing, registration, insurance, traffic laws and whether — and how — automated vehicles may be tested or operated on their roads. Some states have enacted detailed automated-vehicle laws and permit programs; others rely on existing traffic law or executive action. The result is that the rules for operating an automated vehicle can differ substantially from one state to the next, and an operator has to check the requirements in each state where it runs. This guide deliberately does not attempt a state-by-state rulebook — those rules change often and belong to each state’s own authority.
The 2025–2026 federal framework
The federal posture has been moving. In 2025 NHTSA announced a new framework aimed at removing regulatory barriers for automated vehicles — including streamlining the exemption process and updating crash-reporting requirements — and has continued that work into 2026, with further activity on incident reporting for ADS and Level 2 ADAS. The direction is toward enabling deployment while keeping federal oversight of safety and data; the specifics are still being worked through rulemaking, so they should be tracked against NHTSA’s own publications.3
ADAS is not ADS
A recurring source of confusion is the gap between driver-assistance (ADAS) and a genuinely automated driving system (ADS). Level 2 features — lane centering, adaptive cruise, automated emergency braking, “hands-free” highway assists — still require an attentive human driver who is legally responsible; the car is not driving itself. An ADS (broadly SAE levels 3 and above) can perform the driving task within its operating conditions. Marketing names blur the line, but the regulatory treatment — including who must report crashes and under what rules — depends on which one you actually have.
Liability, insurance and who is responsible
There is no single federal answer to “who is liable when an automated vehicle crashes.” NHTSA’s role is vehicle safety — investigating defects and ordering recalls — not deciding fault in an individual crash. Liability is worked out through a mix of state law, ordinary negligence and product-liability principles, and insurance, and it can turn on whether a driver-assistance system or a genuine automated driving system was in control at the time. Because insurance and registration are state matters, the requirements differ from one state to the next.
Exemptions and purpose-built vehicles
Because many Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards assume a human driver and manual controls, a vehicle built without a steering wheel or pedals can need an exemption to be sold or operated. NHTSA has been modernising the standards for such purpose-built vehicles and, in 2026, granted its first commercial-deployment exemption for a novel-design automated passenger vehicle — with continuing operational oversight and conditions attached. It is important to read that correctly: an exemption is a specific, conditioned permission for a particular vehicle, not general approval that driverless vehicles are now road-legal everywhere. Each exemption has its own scope, and state operating rules still apply on top.
What this means for operators and fleets
For fleets and operators, the practical work is the same discipline that already governs conventional vehicles: keeping clear, current records and evidence of vehicles, inspections, driver and operator obligations, incidents and the actions taken — and being able to show them. That record-keeping is what Complys is for. Complys does not approve or certify vehicles, file crash reports or make regulatory determinations; it is where your compliance records, evidence and renewal reminders live, so that as the rules evolve you can show what you did and when. See fleet compliance software, DOT compliance, DVIR and fleet maintenance.
Common questions
Are self-driving cars legal in the US?
It depends on the state. The vehicle itself is federally regulated (through the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and exemptions), while whether and how an automated vehicle may be operated is decided state by state. There is no single national permit that authorises self-driving operation everywhere.
Who regulates self-driving cars in the US?
NHTSA regulates the vehicle federally — safety standards, exemptions, defects and crash reporting — while the states regulate licensing, registration, insurance and operation on their roads.
Do automated-vehicle crashes have to be reported?
Yes. Under NHTSA’s Standing General Order, the named manufacturers and operators of ADS and Level 2 ADAS vehicles must report qualifying crashes to NHTSA within the set timeframes. Individual consumers do not report under the order.
Is a “hands-free” or “self-driving” feature I can buy today an automated driving system?
Generally no. Features marketed that way are usually Level 2 driver assistance: the human remains the driver and is responsible for the vehicle. A legally automated driving system (broadly SAE level 3 and above) is a different category with different regulatory treatment.
Which states allow self-driving cars?
It varies, and there is no single national answer. Some states have detailed automated-vehicle laws and permit programs, others rely on existing traffic law or executive action, and the conditions differ from one to the next. An operator has to check the rules in each state where it wants to test or deploy — the federal vehicle-safety rules do not grant permission to operate on a given state’s roads.
1 Plain-English summary, not legal advice; this is a developing area — always confirm against current official sources, which show their own dates. Federal vehicle safety and automated vehicles: NHTSA, Automated Vehicles Safety. 2 Standing General Order on crash reporting: NHTSA. 3 2026 incident-reporting activity: Federal Register, Incident Reporting for ADS and Level 2 ADAS. Reviewed September 2026.