NHTSA has proposed using cyan-colored lights to identify vehicles operating autonomously, along with other additions to prepare for autonomous vehicles.
As autonomous vehicles begin to spread onto American roads, questions arise about how to manage these new driverless vehicles.
One issue concerns emergency response: Not only must vehicles be prepared to respond to emergency personnel, but those personnel must also recognize when a car is operating autonomously. A police officer needs to know that no one is in the driver’s seat, or an emergency responder needs to know that if there is no one in the driver’s seat, it is not necessarily because there is a missing driver somewhere who needs to be rescued.
These are just some of the reasons why one might want to know if a car operates autonomously, but as of yet, there is no standardized message to suggest that a vehicle does.
This week, NHTSA offered a response. In a draft proposal released Friday, he suggests an entirely new color for vehicle headlights, cyan, to signal autonomous operation.
The proposal was actually first put forward by Mercedes, alongside its DRIVE PILOT Level 3 driver assistance system. It is the first true hands-free system offered in the United States, which allows drivers to relinquish responsibility for the car in certain conditions and let the car truly drive itself. This differs from systems like Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, which is really just a “level 2” system, in which the driver is still responsible when the system is activated.
We tried the Mercedes system in Santa Monica traffic and were impressed with how quickly we adapted to our temporary robotic driver.
When we saw this system, we also saw Mercedes’ lighting proposal: cyan lights around the exterior of the vehicle, indicating autonomous operation.
Unfortunately, our demo took place on a sunny day (a necessity to operate the Level 3 system, which doesn’t work at night or in bad weather), so the lights didn’t come on as much as they might have in dimmer light, but you get the drift.
Mercedes tested the system in California for two years, and it seems that the NHTSA is satisfied with the results, since it proposes to generalize the idea at the national level (after the opinion of the SAE, which also likes the idea of using cyan).
The new draft regulation would allow optional inclusion of cyan lights, but would not require them. It is therefore entirely possible that car manufacturers will decide to save the small cost required to design and include these lights.
But by putting the idea into regulations, everyone is thinking about a future where this color might be required (and I could see that requirement coming pretty quickly) – so automakers are likely to start thinking about where these lights would go, and including them, since LEDs really don’t cost anything anyway.
The regulations state that the lights must turn on when the car is operating autonomously and turn off when it is not – they must never be on when a driver is actively operating the vehicle. They must all turn on and off simultaneously, and they must be visible from any angle, with markers on the front, sides and back, all at least 15 inches from the floor.
China just announced essentially the same regulations earlier this week. The country has published a draft standard that would take effect in 2028, is optional and uses turquoise as the proposed color. It was also a reaction to the proliferation of lights on autonomous vehicles in China, and the government asked automakers to stop doing their own business and instead follow the new standardized system.
NHTSA’s proposed rule covers several other aspects of autonomous vehicle operation, primarily by updating the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) rules to allow flexibility for certain operations that will not be used by autonomous vehicles.
For example, cars must be equipped with a turn signal that automatically turns off when the steering wheel turns beyond a certain threshold and then returns to neutral. This would not apply to cars without a steering wheel, which is why the updated rules remove this requirement for self-driving cars. It also changes some headlight requirements for greater design flexibility.
Electrek’s point of view
While I have a lot to say about the corrupt reality TV character who runs the DoT and how he is trying to raise your energy costs and kill kids on bikes, this autonomous vehicle regulation is long overdue and necessary.
There are still careerists within NHTSA who take their jobs seriously and push for regulations like this, and we can be grateful that not all of them have been forced to resign because of the rampant corruption the United States is currently experiencing.
That said, loosening rules for autonomous vehicles is a topic we need to watch closely. Some things, like allowing reasonable changes to the FMVSS rules for things that really don’t make sense to an AV (like changing a turn signal or various required driver displays), are entirely reasonable.
But it’s also hard not to look at this and say, well, could the guy who gave hundreds of millions in bribes to try to quash the investigations against him and wants to sell you an inoperable car with no steering wheel be behind all of this?
After all, this steering wheel-less car was the subject of an immediate NHTSA investigation when it was suddenly put into service without prior warning, with NHTSA reporting myriad problems. Changing the rules after the fact to accompany a vehicle that has already broken them does not set a great precedent.
So…we can look forward to adapting to new technologies, but we still need to ensure that security is the North Star, rather than Mr. Musk’s fantasies. We have no specific reason in mind to object to this specific regulation, but such a corrupt environment is not conducive to trust among the general population, so here we are.
The rule will soon be posted for public comment, for a period of 30 days, under docket NHTSA-2026-1519 at www.regulations.gov.
Charge your electric vehicle at home with solar panels on the roof. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergyWisefor free. They have pre-screened installers competing for your business, guaranteeing high quality solutions and savings of 20-30%. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive advice from impartial energy advisors. To start here. – announcement*
FTC: We use automatic, revenue-generating affiliate links. More.
Gn bussni
