Senate committee advances bill to regulate commercial autonomous vehicle operations, adopts substitute

Senator Nichols, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, told members that Senate Bill 24 25 would update Texas law to require automated-vehicle companies to provide information to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and to submit first-responder interaction plans to the Department of Public Safety before operating commercially without a human driver.

The bill, with a committee substitute adopted in the hearing, clarifies definitions (including SAE-aligned language for Level 3 operation), sets an authorization process for commercial AV fleets, and gives DMV and DPS the authority to suspend or revoke an AV operator’s authorization under specified circumstances. "If in the rare situation you end up with an operator who is not doing a good job, then at some point there needs to be some, regulation by the state and that is you have authority to operate without a driver or you do not until you correct whatever the deal is," Senator Nichols said…