New regulations are coming for driverless cars in Texas. Here's what to know

Self-driving cars and trucks deployed on Texas roads will soon face stricter scrutiny and state oversight.

That’s thanks to a new law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott that requires autonomous vehicle companies to get state approval before operating without a driver — and gives the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles authority to revoke that approval if companies don’t follow safety standards.

READ MORE: Waymo's new driverless cars will hit these Houston neighborhoods and streets this summer

The move comes as Texas has become a “global leader” in autonomous vehicle deployment, according to Jeff Farrah, the CEO of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, a trade group. “Texas really stands out nationally when it comes to the level of interest from policymakers and regulatory agencies,” he said.

And it’s not just the Waymo cars that have become commonplace in Austin. In April, a company called Aurora started running driverless semitrucks on I-45 between Houston and Dallas. Another company, Kodiak, announced in May that it had deployed four driverless trucks in the Permian Basin. Several others have said they would pull their safety drivers from trucks by the end of this year.

Here’s what to know about the new rules and the AV industry in Texas.

What rules are currently in place for autonomous vehicles?

Current state law welcomes autonomous vehicles onto roads with almost no regulation or reporting requirements. Driverless car companies don’t have to tell the state when and where they are deploying; the cars simply have to follow traffic laws and be equipped with a video recording device. Under current law, passed in 2017, cities are banned from regulating AVs.

State Sen. Robert Nichols, a Jacksonville Republican and the bill’s author, said it became clear in 2023 that more state regulation was needed after Cruise robotaxis deployed in Austin often glitched and clogged streets.

“They were having problems,” Nichols said in an interview. “Enough that I started getting phone calls … so I called them and said, hey, we need to do something here. That’s when we realized we don’t have any provision in the statute that says they have to.”

The new law assigns regulatory oversight to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles and safety standards to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

When do the new regulations take effect?

Although the law goes into effect Sept. 1, the new rules are not expected to be operational until “sometime in 2026,” said Adam Shaivitz, a spokesperson for TxDMV, in an email.

Until then, the state has little authority to stop AVs from driving on public roads. In mid-June, a group of Central Texas lawmakers wrote to Tesla asking the company to delay its robotaxi launch in Austin until after Sept. 1 because of widespread concern over the safety of the company’s self-driving technology. Tesla’s self-driving system uses a camera-based technology, which differs from Waymo and other companies and that critics have warned is less safe.

Tesla deployed its cars anyway and responded to the lawmakers via email that the company was “actively engaged in efforts by the Texas Legislature to update AV policy and will ensure that our vehicles and operational plans meet the planned statutory updates.”

Nichols said the legislation passed with broad industry support. Companies were concerned that “if somebody else is a bad actor, it can hurt them all,” he said. “If someone’s out there harming the public, then the legislature will just shut the whole thing down.”

What do the new regulations do?

The law defines what constitutes “self-driving,” referring to the five levels of automation established by SAE International, a global standards organization.

“Right now, a company can claim, I'm gonna sell you a vehicle or a service that is magic automation,” said Jay Blazek Crossley, the executive director of Farm&City, a sustainability nonprofit. “This law [says] if your company has not figured out how to achieve this level of safety, you can't operate in Texas.”

AV companies must also submit a first responder interaction plan to the Texas Department of Public Safety detailing how police officers and other first responders should interact with autonomous vehicles.

“These can be things as simple as if an officer needs to pull over an AV, what is the appropriate way to do that?” Farrah said. “If you need to tow the vehicle, are there special considerations?”

According to a company spokesperson, Waymo — which has 100 robotaxis commercially deployed in Austin — has worked with the Austin police and fire departments to develop its first responder plan. Its vehicles can detect emergency vehicles and sirens and respond to hand signals and directions.

How safe are autonomous vehicles?

Since 2023, according to a City of Austin dashboard, there have been 122 incidents involving autonomous vehicles, including 34 safety concerns.

Many experts, including Crossley, believe that widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles will make Texas roads safer. Last year, 4,150 people died on Texas roads, according to data from the Texas Department of Transportation.

“I believe one day down the road, 20 years, 30 years from now, we'll look back and we won't believe the carnage we had in the roads that's gone because of the automations taking place and the level of safety,” said state Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, a Denton Republican, during a committee hearing in April.

In the final days of session, Nichols’ bill passed as an amendment to a bill carried by Hagenbuch.

Twenty-six states have passed some form of AV regulation. The National Highway Safety Administration has yet to weigh in on a national standard for self-driving vehicles, although U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy has said it’s a priority.

“This administration understands that we’re in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Duffy said in April, when he announced a new AV framework focused on safety, innovation, and commercial deployment. “The longterm goal here is to move us to a single national standard. We don't want 50 states with 50 standards.”

Companies are required to report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration any incidents related to an automated driving system. Since 2021, 121 incidents have been reported in Texas, ranging from stalled cars to serious injuries.