The Department of Transportation recently announced a handful of initiatives -- including possibly doing away with steering wheel, windshield wiper, and brake pedal requirements -- to full-on sprint toward driverless trucking.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as part of the DOT's recent 2026 Unified Agenda, announced this month ten new regs meant to clear the way for a new generation of trucks.
The quote below from NHTSA's Autonomous Vehicle Framework references ten items in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
"Proposed updates to standards governing transmission shifting (102), windshield defrosting/wiping (103/104), tire placards (110), and braking systems (135). In addition, NHTSA announced the intention to update FMVSS for vehicle lighting (108), mirrors and rearview display (111), electronic stability control systems (126), and sun visors and warning labels (201/208)."
That framework includes specifically speeding up exemptions for demonstration vehicles and even commercial fleets.
"Streamlined the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program (AVEP) and Part 555 exemption programs for demonstration and commercial fleets and expanded AVEP to include domestic vehicles," the framework lists as one of its accomplishments.
The full text of the DOT rulemaking proposals isn't yet available, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is on board, too.
An FMCSA proposed rule called "Motor Carrier Operation of Automated Driving Systems (ADS)-Equipped Commercial Motor Vehicles" will take steps to introduce autonomous trucks.
The rule seeks to "ensure the safe introduction of" autonomous trucks "onto the Nation's roadways," the agency wrote. "The proposed changes to the CMV operations, inspection, repair, and maintenance regulations prioritize safety and security, promote innovation, foster a consistent regulatory approach to ADS-equipped CMVs, and recognize the difference between human operators and ADS."
FMCSA said it's already gotten lots of feedback on the rule going as far back as 2017, and recently DOT top brass has seemed to accelerate its progress.
[Related: Driverless-truck tech: Owner-ops worry over cyberattacks, crashes, competition]
NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morris recently appeared on CNBC and was asked after action in June to get rid of brake pedal requirements for autonomous trucks: "What about getting rid of the steering wheel?"
"We have Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that require certain pieces of equipment, if you have a vehicle that’s designed never to be operated by a human, it doesn’t make sense to require a brake pedal," said Morris.
"It makes sense to require they meet braking standards," but requiring the pedal would be like telling Henry Ford he can't build the Model T "because it doesn’t have horse shoes."
A tweet from DOT put it in even snappier terms.
"We need to stop that approach of blocking innovation in ways that don’t enhance safety and just don’t make sense, so we’re taking a commonsense approach to innovation here at NHTSA," Morris said.
Since April of 2025, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy has stressed the urgency of developing autonomous vehicles as part of an innovation race with China.
Yet NHTSA did recently acknowledge some need to slow down, with Morris writing a letter to AV makers saying they need to recognize and work with first responders after a few recent incidents.
"An AV that cannot safely interact with first responders is a danger to the general public," Morris' letter states.
[Related: Trucker to Congress: Keep drivers in autonomous trucks]
