As amended 3/24/2026: - Requires remote assistants, remote drivers, or local incident technicians who monitor, direct, provide input to, advise, supervise, or control commercial autonomous vehicles on a public road in the state, or that provides onsite response to incidents on behalf of an autonomous vehicle operator, be located within the United States and hold a valid California driver’s license of the appropriate class with any endorsements required for a human driver to lawfully operate the same vehicle in this state. - Requires the ratio of remote assistants or remote drivers to autonomous passenger service vehicles be 1 to 3 or higher at all times. - Requires an autonomous vehicle operator to ensure through its staffing and assignments that remote drivers or remote assistants are able to immediately respond to all calls and incidents and that local incident technicians are able to respond and be present on the scene within 10 minutes of an accident or receiving a request from a first responder. - Requires an autonomous vehicle operator to adopt and maintain written emergency response and immobilization procedures to ensure prompt responses to emergencies and accidents. - Requires any commercial autonomous vehicle operated without a human driver on a highway in this state to be equipped with a manual override system in the vehicle that allows local incident technicians, first responders, tow operators, and trained personnel to readily access an emergency steering wheel and manually steer, brake, and relocate the vehicle during an emergency. - Requires autonomous vehicle operators to maintain specified data, including, among other things, information regarding assignments and staffing for remote assistants, remote drivers, and local incident technicians and response times and responses to emergency events, immobilizations, obstructions, accidents involving damage to persons or property, and requests from first responders.
| Date | Chamber | Action |
|---|---|---|
May 14, 2026 | S | Hearing Scheduled - Appropriations |
May 4, 2026 | S | Hearing Scheduled - Appropriations |
May 4, 2026 | — | May 4 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file. |
Apr 24, 2026 | — | Set for hearing May 4. |
Apr 22, 2026 | — | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
Apr 21, 2026 | S | Hearing Scheduled - Judiciary |
Apr 16, 2026 | — | Set for hearing April 21. |
Apr 15, 2026 | — | Re-referred to Com. on JUD. |
| Last Action | May 4, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2025 |
| Bill Type | Bill |
| Created | Mar 21, 2026 |
| Updated | May 8, 2026 |