Why It Matters Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States, claiming an estimated 39,345 lives in 2024 alone, according to a 2026 Congressional Research Service report. As Congress grapples with regulating automated vehicles, a fundamental tension has emerged: the existing federal safety framework was built for human drivers, not self-driving car safety considerations. The question now is whether Congress should overhaul decades-old standards or allow the administration to modernize them through regulatory exemptions and voluntary frameworks that may or may not ensure public safety. The Big Picture Congress has tasked itself with determining whether current federal statutes and automotive safety standards are adequate for a vehicle future that could eliminate steering wheels, pedals, and human oversight entirely. The central friction is technical and regulatory: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were developed around human-driven vehicle designs, yet Level 4 autonomous vehicles without manual controls may struggle to comply with requirements. The Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced a new framework April 24, 2025, explicitly prioritizing safety, innovation, and commercial deployment. That same framework included plans to let domestic noncommercial automated vehicle producers access exemptions similar to those available to foreign vehicle importers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced plans June 13, 2025 to make its exemption program more flexible, signaling the administration's intent to accelerate deployment pathways. NHTSA has proposed modernizing or adding exemptions for several Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to accommodate driverless designs. The agency proposed a voluntary safety evaluation framework, the ADS-Equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency, and Evaluation Program, that would let companies opt in to safety assessments in exchange for regulatory exemptions. Since May 2025, lawmakers have advocated for several bills aimed at addressing autonomous vehicle safety standards, data reporting, consumer information, equipment restrictions, and advanced driver assistance system guidelines.