U.S. congressional leaders from both parties reached a preliminary agreement on a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that would direct billions of dollars in federal funding to critical infrastructure projects across the country, while also including a provision to establish a national regulatory framework for autonomous trucks.

The agreement, named the Build America 250 Act, was announced Sunday by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and the committee's ranking member, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). The agreement also "provides the first-ever framework for autonomous commercial motor vehicles."

Although the legislation still needs to clear other procedural steps, lawmakers said the goal is to get the bill from Congress to the president's desk before the current surface transportation authorization expires on September 30. The bill was introduced in the House on Tuesday, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to begin marking up the legislation on Thursday.

Graves and Larsen both said the agreement, which would fund national highway, road, and rail projects for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, was reached after more than 18 months of negotiations.

Industry to develop its own safety case provisions

The bill as currently drafted includes a section on "Safe Integration of Automated Commercial Motor Vehicles" that requires new regulations to be developed within six months to two years, covering the following:

  • The Secretary of Transportation issuing regulations for safety standards for interstate commercial automated vehicles;
  • Requiring automated driving system manufacturers to establish and maintain safety standards, including the manufacturer's own safety case. The safety case must "provide claims, arguments, and evidence" demonstrating that the technology is at least as reliable as a conventional commercial driver;
  • Establishing a motor carrier rulemaking committee to make recommendations;
  • Requiring the development of cybersecurity plans, policies, and prevention/response measures;
  • Establishing crash reporting requirements;
  • Limiting the number of autonomous commercial vehicles that a single remote assistant or dispatcher can monitor simultaneously;
  • Providing standards for alerting other road users when an autonomous vehicle enters a "minimal risk state."

The bill also stipulates that autonomous or semi-autonomous school buses, vehicles carrying placards indicating hazardous materials, and other operations determined by the Secretary of Transportation must have a human operator on board.

Despite the safety and regulatory oversight provisions in the legislation, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which has previously raised safety concerns about the technology, expressed concerns about the proposed legislation. In a statement, the group said the bill gives "automated vehicle manufacturers the ability to self-certify their technology for deployment on public roads" and called the provision "very troubling."

Autonomous vehicle stakeholders welcome the bill

The inclusion of a provision to establish a national regulatory framework for autonomous commercial motor vehicles in the bill was welcomed by technology developers and industry advocates.

Don Burnette, founder and CEO of Kodiak AI, said in a statement that the bill, if approved, "would mark an important milestone." He added that it would lead to "a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for autonomous trucks, bringing more regulatory certainty to the autonomous trucking industry."

Currently, companies including Kodiak AI operate in an environment facing inconsistent state rules for driverless trucks. Although this has not slowed the company's deployment efforts in the Southwest, Southeast, and Midwest regions of the U.S., Burnette said the establishment of national rules would replace the patchwork of state regulations. He added that the bill would set strong safety standards and give the Department of Transportation "the tools needed to oversee the scaled deployment of autonomous trucks, while supporting American innovation and investing in the transportation workforce."

Ariel Wolf, chair of the Autonomous and Connected Mobility practice at Venable LLP, said in an email to Trucking Dive that establishing a national autonomous vehicle framework increases predictability by providing a uniform set of rules for the industry and stakeholders. This could accelerate capital investment in the sector, said Wolf, who also serves as general counsel for the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association.

Wolf noted that the autonomous vehicle section of the bill contains important language clarifying how trucks would comply with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations, which set a high safety bar and can preempt conflicting state laws.

Wolf acknowledged that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and other congressional committees will continue to discuss and amend the bill until a final version passes Congress, but he remains optimistic about the industry.

"Including this language in the broader surface transportation reauthorization bill text signals that committee leadership views a framework for commercial motor vehicles equipped with automated driving systems as a national priority," Wolf said. "There is a long road ahead, but this is a very good first step."