Senate sends measure to create guidelines and rulemaking for autonomous vehicles to pass on second reading

Senate Bill 67, a bill to provide for the use of vehicles with automated driving systems on public highways and to authorize rulemaking, passed second reading after the floor approved a technical amendment and extended discussion about safety, livestock and rulemaking authority.

Sponsor Senator Logie said the bill brings stakeholders — transportation officials, law enforcement, insurance and tribal and local governments — together to develop guidelines that reflect Montana’s varied weather, roads and wildlife encounters. The bill contemplates a spectrum of automation levels, citing Level 3 (hands‑off with expectation a human may need to resume control), Level 4 (high automation with limited expectation of human intervention) and Level 5 (no human driver).

Logie said the work would be cooperative: the Department of Transportation and Department of Justice would have rulemaking authority to adopt limitations and permitting structures to ensure safe travel. Several senators pressed the sponsor on why the Department of Transportation would be granted rulemaking authority before completion of the study; Logie and others responded that the bill is intended to set baseline requirements now and that the interim committee process gives the legislature input into the work.

An amendment clarifying references to the two departments was adopted unanimously in the committee‑of‑the‑whole. The final recorded vote on the bill as amended was 37 Aye, 13 Nay; the bill passed second reading and was reported out of committee as amended.

Floor discussion emphasized balancing innovation and public safety, including concerns about livestock and wildlife interaction with autonomous systems, the need for interagency coordination, and whether permitting or exemptions for commercial autonomous vehicles should be managed through the department processes or by future legislative action.