DOT’s New AV Strategy Supersedes Conflicting Older Guidance — the Competency ANPRM Is Still Being Developed

The U.S. Department of Transportation published a new national automated-vehicle strategy on Sept. 3 that does more than collect the administration’s AV priorities in one document. DOT says specified older federal AV policy and guidance documents are no longer comprehensive or current, and the new strategy supersedes them to the extent their concepts or statements conflict with it.¹²

That is a policy-hierarchy change, not a new final robotaxi safety rule.² The strategy says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still developing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, or ANPRM, for objective automated-driving-system competency performance standards.² Existing federal motor-vehicle safety standards continue to apply to automated vehicles unless an applicable exemption is granted.²

For companies building purpose-designed vehicles without conventional human controls, that distinction is the practical one: DOT has published a new federal roadmap through fiscal 2030, but the standards and exemption framework that apply today have not been replaced by a finished ADS competency rule.²

What actually changed on Sept. 3

The strategy, titled America Leads: USDOT’s National Strategy to Advance Automated Vehicle Innovation, covers federal AV activities planned and underway for fiscal years 2026 through 2030 and expands the Automated Vehicle Framework DOT announced in April 2025.²

It also tells readers how to treat a stack of older federal AV documents. DOT specifically discusses the 2016 Federal Automated Vehicles Policy, 2017 ADS 2.0, 2018 AV 3.0, 2020 AV 4.0 and the 2021 Comprehensive Plan. The agency says those documents still contain some valid information, but should no longer be treated as comprehensive or current; where their concepts or statements conflict with the Sept. 3 strategy, the new strategy supersedes them.²

That wording matters. It does not say every earlier document has been wholly revoked, and it does not turn the strategy itself into new statutory text or a completed amendment to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.²

The competency-standard effort is not new

NHTSA’s work on objective ADS performance requirements predates the Sept. 3 strategy. In July, NHTSA publicly said it was accelerating work on what it described as the first performance standards for automated vehicles.³ A July 31 Federal Register notice says NHTSA had announced the commencement of rulemaking to establish ADS performance requirements at its March 10 automated-vehicle safety meeting.⁴⁵

The new strategy therefore should not be read as the first announcement of an ADS competency standard. Its current contribution is to place that already-underway effort inside a broader FY2030 roadmap and state its present stage: NHTSA is developing an ANPRM.²

The same current-versus-future distinction applies to developer guidance. DOT says NHTSA is preparing updated voluntary guidance that may address areas including remote operations or assistance, software updates, emergency-responder interaction and safety-management systems. The strategy says the draft guidance will be added for public comment to docket NHTSA-2026-0265, a docket that originated with NHTSA’s March 10 AV Safety Public Meeting.²⁵

Today’s standards and exemptions still matter

DOT’s strategy says automated vehicles remain subject to existing federal safety standards unless an applicable exemption is granted, while acknowledging that standards written around human-operated vehicles can create barriers for purpose-built automated designs without conventional manual controls.²

That makes the document relevant to electric robotaxis, but it does not resolve any company’s specific federal compliance path. The strategy cites Zoox as an example of a commercial exemption already granted, while the reviewed strategy text does not name Tesla or Cybercab.²³ We examined Cybercab’s separate federal-rule and exemption questions in August; the Sept. 3 strategy does not establish a Tesla-specific authorization.²

The strategy also stops short of claiming federal control over every AV operating rule. DOT describes existing federal authorities and rules as the basis of the federal AV framework while recognizing traditional state authority over rules of the road and vehicle operation.²

And on connected infrastructure, DOT says vehicle-to-everything systems and smart infrastructure can complement automated driving but are not prerequisites for AV deployment. The agency says it does not expect infrastructure owners or operators to make AV-specific investments as a condition of deployment in the foreseeable future.²

Those boundaries are the useful way to read the new roadmap: it changes which federal AV policy document sits on top when older guidance conflicts, while leaving several major implementation steps — including the competency ANPRM and updated voluntary guidance — still ahead.²

Sources

Footnotes

1. Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Unveils New National AV Strategy — U.S. Department of Transportation, Sept. 3, 2026. https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-duffy-unveils-new-national-av-strategy. Establishes the Sept. 3 publication of the national AV strategy and DOT’s high-level announcement. The release contains administration-authored promotional framing; exact policy scope is taken from the strategy itself. ↩

2. America Leads: USDOT’s National Strategy to Advance Automated Vehicle Innovation — U.S. Department of Transportation, Sept. 3, 2026. https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2026-09/AV%20National%20Strategy_508_3Sep2026.pdf. Establishes the FY2026–2030 scope; relationship to older federal AV policy/guidance; current FMVSS and exemption framework; ANPRM-development status; planned voluntary guidance; federal/state framework; V2X language; and the document’s Zoox example and lack of Tesla/Cybercab references. It is a policy roadmap, not a completed future rulemaking or company-specific authorization. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Cutting Red Tape to Safely Fast-Track Automated Vehicle Innovation — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, July 30, 2026. https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/cutting-red-tape-safely-fast-track-automated-vehicle. Establishes that ADS performance/competency-standard work, updated voluntary-guidance work and the Zoox exemption were publicly underway before Sept. 3. ↩ ↩²

4. Automated Vehicle Exemption Program; Interim Procedures and Request for Comment — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration / Federal Register public inspection, July 31, 2026. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-15483.pdf. Establishes NHTSA’s then-current AV exemption context and its statement that commencement of ADS performance-requirement rulemaking had been announced at the March 10 AV safety meeting. This notice is not the future ADS competency ANPRM itself. ↩

5. Public Meeting: Automated Vehicle Safety — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration / Federal Register public inspection, Feb. 9, 2026. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-02503.pdf. Establishes the March 10 AV Safety Public Meeting, docket NHTSA-2026-0265, and the public-comment context. It does not establish that the future updated voluntary guidance has already been posted. ↩ ↩²