US proposes to drop brake pedal requirements for self-driving vehicles

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed on Thursday to end a government requirement for manual brake pedals in self-driving vehicles, a move ​that would make it easier to deploy such vehicles on ‌U.S. roads.

The proposal would not apply to vehicles with human driver controls and NHTSA said it would not drop braking performance requirements, including strict stopping distance standards for self-driving vehicles.

It is one of a number of changes proposed by ‌the ​agency to facilitate the roll-out of self-driving ⁠vehicles. NHTSA is in ⁠the process of developing safety performance tests for self-driving vehicles as part of a separate standard.

Automakers have previously expressed frustration with the agency’s slow review of autonomous vehicles.

Under the law, fully self-driving ​vehicles do not need NHTSA approval if they have required human controls, like steering wheels, brake pedals or mirrors.

NHTSA has authority ⁠to grant petitions to allow up to ⁠2,500 vehicles per manufacturer yearly to operate on ​U.S. roads without required human controls, but the agency has spent years ​reviewing several exemption petitions without taking action.

Last year, NHTSA said ‌it was streamlining reviews of those exemption requests.

In March, NHTSA said it was seeking public comment on Amazon’s self-driving unit Zoox to deploy up to 2,500 purpose-built, steering-wheel-free robotaxis without human controls.

In 2018, ⁠GM petitioned NHTSA to deploy up to 2,500 cars without steering wheels or brake pedals on U.S. roads, before withdrawing the petition in 2020. ⁠The Detroit automaker sought ‌NHTSA approval to deploy vehicles without human controls ⁠again in 2022 but that petition was withdrawn ​in ‌October 2024.

Separately, NHTSA on Thursday withdrew a Biden-era ​proposal to adopt ⁠a voluntary national framework for the evaluation and oversight of self-driving vehicles.

The agency said automakers expressed concern the requirements were too stringent, while some safety advocates said it would not provide NHTSA with sufficient oversight to ensure an appropriate level of safety.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing ​by Nia Williams)