Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act of 2025

This bill aims to speed up safe use of fully self-driving vehicles. It says today’s car safety rules were built for human drivers and can slow down safer designs that don’t need a steering wheel or driver seat. The Department of Transportation must fix these roadblocks so Level 4 and Level 5 vehicles can be tested and approved more easily, while keeping safety first. This includes updating rules that assume a person is in control and adjusting things like seating, window placement, and driver controls to fit driverless designs .

Within one year, the department has to address the certification problems flagged by a federal study, and it can also set up exemptions when needed to allow safe autonomous vehicles on the road. A report to Congress is due after those changes start. The bill also requires a national roadmap within one year to help get self-driving vehicles to commercial scale. The roadmap must support U.S. design and manufacturing, lower practical and regulatory barriers, set a clear safety approach, study new technology and safety issues since 2016, and propose any needed updates to federal safety standards. There’s an early progress update at 180 days, periodic updates later, and the final roadmap must be made public .

• Who is affected: DOT and NHTSA, car and tech companies working on Level 4–5 vehicles, and communities that could see new mobility options .
• What changes: Modernizes safety rules to fit vehicles without human drivers; allows compliance findings and exemptions; creates a national deployment roadmap with a safety standard and tech assessment .
• When: Key actions within 1 year of enactment; a 180-day early update; ongoing roadmap updates after that .