Sponsors (2)
The bill improves detection and safety for vulnerable road users by requiring more capable, inclusive AEB systems, but does so with tight regulatory timelines and requirements that may raise manufacturer costs, vehicle prices, and constrain some future high-speed detection improvements.
People who walk, bike, use wheelchairs, children, seniors, and other road users will have safer streets because AEB systems must detect and respond to pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and wheelchair users across skin tones, clothing, gear, daylight and low light, reducing collisions with vulnerable users.
Vehicle manufacturers and the transportation sector gain clearer regulatory predictability because the bill sets a timeline for a final revised AEB rule within two years and two years for compliance after issuance, aiding compliance planning.
Car buyers, especially middle-class families and taxpayers, may face higher prices because automakers will likely incur added design, testing, and certification costs to meet broader and low-light AEB requirements.
Manufacturers and testing/certification providers could face strained capacity and compliance burdens because the bill imposes tight deadlines (initiate in 180 days; final rule within two years; compliance two years after issuance), risking implementation delays or increased costs.
Drivers and pedestrians may miss out on potential future safety gains because the bill prohibits increasing the rule’s maximum AEB operating speed, which could limit improvements in high-speed detection that might reduce some crash types.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs DOT to revise AEB rules so passenger vehicles detect and respond to vulnerable road users (including cyclists and wheelchair users) in daylight and low light, and sets firm rulemaking and compliance deadlines.
Official title: To amend title 49, United States Code, to require automatic emergency braking system and similar crash avoidance technology equipped light vehicles detect and respond in a wider range of circumstances, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 4, 2026 by Yvette Diane Clarke · Last progress February 4, 2026
Requires the Department of Transportation to revise the federal automatic emergency braking (AEB) safety rule so passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. detect and respond to vulnerable road users — including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, wheelchair users, and riders of non-motor-vehicle transport — in daylight and low-light conditions and across a full range of appearances. The bill also sets deadlines: DOT must start rulemaking within 180 days, issue a final revised rule within two years of starting, set a compliance date no later than two years after issuing the final rule, and preserves an existing September 1, 2029 compliance date for an earlier final rule.