The Texas Senate Committee on Transportation examined the expansion of autonomous vehicles on Texas roads Tuesday and flagged potential gaps in current law after officials acknowledged that the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles is not automatically notified when an autonomous vehicle is involved in a serious or fatal crash. The hearing came as Texas begins implementing a new regulatory framework for commercial autonomous vehicles. Senate Bill 2807, passed in 2025, requires commercial driverless vehicles to receive authorization from TxDMV and provide DPS with a first-responder interaction plan. The authorization requirement became enforceable on May 28. Watch NBC 5 free wherever you are While the TxDMV has the authority to restrict or suspend AV authorizations, officials said current law does not require serious or deadly crashes to be reported directly to the agency. Create a free account with NBC 5 DFW to save articles and videos. In an exchange with lawmakers, TxDMV Enforcement Director Corrie Thompson told State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, the agency learned of a deadly crash involving an AV in Dallas through media reports rather than through a required notification. “The current statute as written does not have a mandate for reporting to the department," said Thompson. You gave me the answer that scares the living [hell] out of me as a legislator,” Perry said. Local The latest news from around North Texas. Perry later said media reports should not be the state's first source of information about a potentially serious incident involving an autonomous vehicle. TxDMV officials said the preliminary Dallas police report did not contain a final fault determination. According to the agency's description of the report, a human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian who entered the roadway outside a crosswalk, throwing the pedestrian into an autonomous vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. Lawmakers pointed to the