House Passes Autonomous Vehicles Framework for Commercial Motor Vehicles

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) on May 22, 2026, advanced the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870) by a vote of 62-2. The bipartisan five-year, $580 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill included investments in roads, bridges, transit, rail and highway safety and – for the first time – would establish a federal regulatory framework for autonomous commercial motor vehicles (CMV AVs) operating in interstate commerce.

Though the T&I Committee has jurisdiction over CMV operations, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C) has jurisdiction over automobile safety, reflecting a bifurcated regulatory framework under which CMV operational requirements are addressed through the T&I Committee and implemented by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), while vehicle design and safety standards remain within the E&C Committee's purview and implemented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Although the E&C Committee has passed some of its title for surface reauthorization – including the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 7389) – it did not include any major provisions addressing AVs.

Despite its focus on CMV operations, BUILD America 250's AV subtitle represents significant bipartisan progress in moving AV legislation forward this Congress. In many ways, it mirrors elements of the E&C Committee's SELF DRIVE Act (H.R. 7390) – the leading AV bill in the 119th Congress – while also addressing operational issues unique to CMVs and the existing federal regulatory framework governing registration, licensing, inspection and hours of service.

A Closer Look

Subtitle E of the Motor Carriers title of BUILD America 250, titled "Safe Integration of Autonomous Commercial Vehicles," is summarized below:

• Definitions. Creates statutory definitions for related terms, including "automated driving system" (ADS) and provides that other key terms shall have the meaning set forth by the Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE's) recommended practice J3016 and subsequent editions adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary.
• Autonomous Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV AV) Framework. Establishes a new federal framework for ADS-equipped CMVs operating in interstate commerce.
  • Safety Case: Directs DOT to develop a national performance-based safety standard within two years. The standard would require manufacturers to demonstrate – through a documented "safety case" – that a CMV AV performs at least as safely as a human-driven vehicle. This includes detailed support for the system's hardware, software and operational capabilities.
  • Incident Reporting: Directs DOT to formalize AV incident reporting currently required in NHTSA's Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01.
  • Onboard Operators: Requires a human operator to be physically present in an ADS-equipped CMV when transporting placarded hazardous materials or primarily children (e.g., a school bus) and a human fallback driver to be physically present in the driver's seat of a Level 3 ADS-equipped CMV.
  • "Integrated Service Operations": For certain CMV operations – such as school bus transportation, placarded hazardous materials transport, public transit and motorcoach service – DOT may prescribe additional requirements, including requiring any remote or fallback human drivers (technically, "remote assistants performing covered aspects of the dynamic driving task, DDT fallback-ready users, or remote drivers") to have additional training or commercial driver's license (CDL) endorsements.
  • Remote or Fallback Human Drivers: Requires any remote or fallback drivers to be properly qualified and licensed to operate CMVs. Any time spent monitoring an ADS-equipped CMV is considered driving time for purposes of the CMV hours-of-service regulations. It also requires such persons, plus driverless operations dispatchers, to be physically located in the U.S.
• Rulemaking Committee. Establishes a new cross-stakeholder rulemaking committee to recommend to DOT what other standards should be created to implement the new CMV AV framework, including updates to related CMV regulations. The committee includes representatives from labor, industry, law enforcement, safety advocates, safety officials, insurers and researchers, among others. Some of the topics for committee recommendations, which may lead to rulemaking, include:
  • updates to CMV regulations on standards and procedures for vehicle inspections and safety fitness determinations that are tailored to ADS-equipped CMVs, including publishing their safety fitness determinations separately from non-ADS-equipped CMVs
  • additional qualifications and training for the CMV AV workforce
  • limits on the number of CMV AVs a remote or fallback human "may be responsible for without reducing the level of public safety"
  • requirements to ensure occupants can safely direct the vehicle to achieve a minimal risk condition and exit the vehicle with conspicuous alerts
  • standards on data collection, standardization and recordkeeping
  • standards to evaluate a lengthy list of ADS competencies
  • updating FMCSA's Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program and Safety Measurement System to account for CMV AVs
  • updating hours-of-service regulations as applied to human remote or fallback drivers
• Maintaining CMV Standards. Does not allow DOT to exempt any ADS-equipped CMVs from attendance and surveillance requirements or applicable inspection requirements, nor any human remote or fallback driver from any commercial driver standards in regulation.
• Maintains Federal Preemption. Clarifies that existing federal preemption of state laws on CMV safety also applies to ADS-equipped CMV safety.
• National Consumer Complaint Database. Requires the DOT Secretary to collect and display safety violations specific to ADS-equipped CMVs in FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database.
• Workforce Development. Establishes a grant program to support the CMV workforce by strengthening employment opportunities for professional drivers, mechanics and other occupations and by training individuals to safely operate and maintain ADS-equipped CMVs.
• Cab-Mounted Warning Beacons. Permits the use of cab-mounted warning beacons as warning devices for CMVs, though it does not require CMVs to be equipped with or use such devices.
• Width Exemption. Allows ADS technologies and equipment on a CMV AV to exceed the statutory width requirements for CMVs.

In addition, the bill's Innovation title (Title VI) included some provisions relevant to CMV AVs, including:

• prohibitions on DOT and federal funding recipients from procuring Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technologies from countries of concern
• an AV accessibility study
• a study of cybersecurity and physical risks from advanced transportation technologies, including data protection risks
• a study of whether NHTSA's current ADS incident reporting requirements are adequate for public safety

Looking Ahead

The BUILD America 250 Act may be taken up by the full House in June or July 2026 and will be paired with the E&C Committee's Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026 and any other House committees' text reported by then. Although the E&C Committee has not reached bipartisan consensus on the SELF DRIVE Act of 2026, E&C Committee leadership has indicated that they will keep working to advance the bill as part of the ultimate surface transportation reauthorization package.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce is reportedly working on comprehensive AV legislation that would cover both CMV AVs and passenger vehicle AVs. However, it is unclear whether that legislation would differ significantly from the House version or when such legislation might be taken up by either the committee or full Senate, given the upcoming midterm elections.

Holland & Knight continues to monitor developments in the autonomous transportation sector. If you have questions or need more information, contact the authors or another member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Policy Team.

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