DOT proposes dropping brake pedals for robotaxis

DOT proposes – The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation has opened a 30-day public comment period on a proposed update to federal vehicle safety rules that would remove the requirement for brake pedals in vehicles designed to run exclusively on automated drivi

For years, the vision has been simple: ride in a car that doesn’t need a steering wheel or pedals. Now that idea is getting a federal nudge—one that could remove a very specific obstacle for robotaxi makers trying to build vehicles without traditional driver controls.

On Thursday. the Department of Transportation proposed updating federal vehicle safety rules so that vehicles designed to operate exclusively with automated driving systems would no longer be required to include brake pedals. If the proposal is adopted. it would remove a hurdle for companies such as Tesla and Zoox. which are developing autonomous vehicles without traditional driver controls.

The proposal is open for public comment for 30 days, as part of a broader push by federal regulators to modernize vehicle rules for the autonomous era.

The DOT’s plan builds on earlier moves from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In past proposals. NHTSA has targeted requirements tied to features such as windshield defoggers. wipers. and tire placards for certain self-driving vehicles. During the Biden administration, regulators finalized a rule allowing autonomous vehicles to operate without steering wheels.

That matters because. under current federal practice. companies that want to deploy vehicles missing federally required equipment must obtain government exemptions—and those exemptions come with limits on how many vehicles can be put on the road. Zoox, for example, has been waiting on an exemption on driver-control requirements so it can produce 100 robotaxis a week. The new rules would allow companies like Zoox to scale quickly.

DOT Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a statement that the latest proposal is an effort to tear down “pointless barriers to innovative designs.”

Carnegie Mellon professor Philip Koopman. an emeritus professor of electrical and computer engineering. said removing “historically unintended restrictions on autonomous vehicles” is generally a good idea. In his comments. Koopman said it is appropriate to modify the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to remove unintended barriers to driverless vehicle deployment by removing dependencies on the presence of a human driver—adding that “this latest proposal does.”.

Koopman also warned that the standards gap is broader than this single rule change. While NHTSA is removing unintended barriers. he said. “there are no FMVSS parts that are specific to autonomous vehicles.” He added: “It is long past time to see movement in adding new safety standards relevant to this new technology as well.”.

The proposal could land squarely on the business plans of Tesla’s Cybercab and Amazon-owned Zoox. both of which are developing robotaxis without conventional driver controls. Multiple AV companies have voiced their support through public comment filings. Waymo and Zoox wrote in April that the revised regulations would reduce their compliance costs. while Tesla wrote that it would like the agency to consider adding more vehicle types to the pedal exemption.

Even so, easing equipment requirements is not the same as eliminating risk—and safety groups are pressing NHTSA to slow down and explain what changes would mean for real-world emergencies.

The American Automobile Association said in its public comment to NHTSA that while it supports easing regulations for fully autonomous vehicles, transparency is key—especially for passengers and emergency responders who may not know how to operate a vehicle without such controls.

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety echoed similar concerns. In its public comment. the organization said NHTSA presents no research or analysis of the potential safety impacts of removing the display and provides no discussion of the possible concerns not only for passengers but also potentially for first responders who may need to know the potential for the vehicle to be in gear following a collision or other system failure.

Dan O’Dowd. founder of The Dawn Project. an AV safety advocacy group. told Business Insider that robotaxis should be required to meet certain reliability standards before they can have no physical controls. He said: “Tesla’s ‘Robotaxis’ are nowhere near the reliability level required to remove the brake pedal.” O’Dowd added: “The removal of physical controls should only be granted to robotaxi companies who have conclusively proven their software is safe for autonomous. unsupervised driving.”.

Tesla, Waymo, and Zoox did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One thing is clear: this proposal is less about whether robotaxis will come. and more about which part of the industry’s rollout gets sped up first. If the rule change moves forward, companies waiting on exemptions tied to driver controls could expand faster. If it stalls—or if it is narrowed by public feedback—robotaxi builders may still find themselves constrained by the equipment requirements designed for humans in the driver’s seat.

Department of Transportation DOT NHTSA FMVSS robotaxis automated driving systems brake pedals Tesla Cybercab Zoox Waymo exemptions Jonathan Morrison Philip Koopman American Automobile Association Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety The Dawn Project Dan O’Dowd public comment