The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s notice of proposed rulemaking, Docket NHTSA-2026-1519 (RIN 2127-AM70), went on public inspection at the Federal Register on 23 October 2026 and is scheduled for publication on 26 October. Comments are due 30 days after publication. It amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, the lighting standard, which was written for cars with a human driver.
What the proposal would change
- No-manual-control vehicles: requirements for manually operated turn-signal, hazard-warning and high/low-beam controls would apply only to vehicles that have manual driving controls. The automated driving system (ADS) would still have to operate those functions. NHTSA says no self-cancelling turn-signal requirement is needed because the ADS “cannot forget that the turn signals are active.”
- Telltales: some dashboard indicators would apply only to vehicles with manual controls. A vehicle without turn-signal telltales would need a lamp-failure telltale in view of all seating positions. NHTSA asks whether the hazard-warning telltale should stay.
- Optional cyan ADS marker lamps: if fitted, four to eight steady-burning cyan lamps (one or two each on front, sides and rear), at least 15 inches off the ground, lit only when the vehicle is operating “without the expectation that an occupant is monitoring the roadway.” The specification largely follows SAE J3134. They would be allowed, not required.
- Two changes for all vehicles: dropping the standard 12.8-volt test voltage for integral-beam headlamps and removing rules on vertical headlamp arrangements.
The agency says the changes would remove costs for equipment that serves no purpose without a human driver, and it does not expect incremental costs.
Meanwhile: the Cybercab audit and a school-zone petition
- Audit Query AQ26002 was opened on 3 September 2026, the day Tesla began commercial Cybercab service in Austin, Texas. NHTSA’s opening resume says the vehicles “lack permanently attached, conventional manual controls, such as a brake pedal, gas pedal, steering wheel, and mirrors,” and that it will examine how far Tesla’s self-certification relied on finding certain standards “inapplicable.” A special order under 49 U.S.C. § 30166(g) asks, among other things, whether temporarily attached human driver controls were part of Tesla’s certification basis. Failure to respond fully can bring penalties of up to $27,874 a day, capped at $139,356,994. NHTSA has made no finding of non-compliance.
- Defect Petition DP26010 was opened on 9 October 2026. A petition received on 23 September alleges that model year 2026 Tesla robotaxis (Model Y and Cybercab) with the ADS engaged exceed posted speed limits in active school zones, and supplies three video links. NHTSA opened the DP to decide whether to grant or deny the petition. It is not an investigation finding.
“NHTSA is opening this AQ to examine the process and technical data on which Tesla relied when certifying the Cybercab.” — NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, AQ26002, 3 September 2026
What this piece refuses
Do not write that NHTSA has “approved” driverless cars without steering wheels, or that cyan lamps will be mandatory. It is a proposal, and the lamps are optional. Do not write that Tesla’s robotaxis have been found to speed in school zones: the DP is a petition review. We have not reported a later deadline for Tesla’s special-order response; trade reports cite an extension memo we could not retrieve from NHTSA’s public file.
Bottom line
Verified from the Federal Register public-inspection copy (Doc. 2026-21794) and NHTSA’s investigation records: NHTSA proposes to adapt FMVSS No. 108 for vehicles with no manual controls and to allow optional cyan ADS marker lamps; comments close 30 days after 26 October publication. AQ26002 (Cybercab certification) and DP26010 (school-zone speeding petition) are open.