1. (a) “Alternate route” is a temporary routing initiated due to an emergent situation and at the discretion of the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Transportation (CalTrans), or applicable local authorities, which may result in routing not otherwise legal for certain size combination vehicles, and which exists only for the duration of the incident or closure of the regular legal route.
2. (b) “Automated driving system” is the combination of both hardware and software which collectively form autonomous technology and when equipped to a vehicle are capable of making, or are designed to make the vehicle perform the entire dynamic driving task on a sustained basis, with or without a driver located in the driver's seat of the vehicle, regardless of whether it is limited to a specific operational design domain, and limited to systems that meet the description of Levels 3, 4, and/or 5 in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International's Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On-Road Motor Vehicles, standard J3016 (APR2021).
3. (c) “Automated driving system feature” is a feature of the automated driving system that operates at a specific driving automation level 3, 4, and/or 5 in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International's Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On-Road Motor Vehicles, standard J3016 (APR2021) and within a prescribed operational design domain.
4. (d) “Automated driving system service” is a product that uses a service model, whereby the manufacturer provides an end user, who is not the manufacturer of the product, with an automated driving system, that, when equipped to a vehicle and activated, makes the vehicle operate in a manner consistent with the definition of an autonomous vehicle as found in Vehicle Code section 38750.
5. (e) “Autonomous heavy-duty commercial motor vehicle,” is a motor vehicle required to be registered under the Vehicle Code, has a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more, is equipped with an automated driving system, and primarily used or maintained to transport property.
6. (f) “Autonomous mode” is the status of operation of an autonomous vehicle when the automated driving system is performing the dynamic driving task.
7. (g) “Autonomous test vehicle” is an autonomous vehicle that is operated for testing purposes. The presence in the vehicle of a person that monitors an autonomous vehicle's performance and performs the dynamic driving task fallback shall not affect whether a vehicle meets the definition of an autonomous test vehicle.
8. (h) “Autonomous vehicle” is a vehicle that is equipped with an automated driving system and is capable of operating without the active physical control or monitoring by a natural person of the autonomous vehicle's performance of the dynamic driving task within the prescribed operational design domain. An “autonomous vehicle” is capable or designed with the goal of operating in a manner that meets the definition of Levels 3, 4, or 5 of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International's Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On-Road Motor Vehicles, standard J3016 (APR2021). To determine whether a vehicle is equipped with feature(s), that, when engaged, meet the definition of Levels 3, 4, or 5 of the SAE International's J3016 (APR2021), and is thus subject to the Vehicle Code section 38750 and the regulations in Articles 3.7 and 3.8, the department may rely on any relevant information available to the department. Examples of relevant information include, but are not limited to, demonstrations of the autonomous technology provided by the manufacturer, reports from other regulatory agencies, and media sources.
9. (i) “Autonomous vehicle test driver” is a natural person physically located in the driver's seat of an autonomous test vehicle, whether the vehicle is in autonomous mode or conventional mode, who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle being driven or operated, expected to monitor the driving environment, supervise the performance of the vehicle and the automated driving system, and is capable of taking over active physical control of the vehicle at any time and performing the dynamic driving task fallback immediately.
10. (j) “Avoidance area” is a defined location identified by emergency response officials through an emergency geofencing message, from which a manufacturer must issue direction to its fleet of autonomous vehicles to leave or avoid for the initial duration provided by the emergency response official or for an extended duration, when specified by the emergency response official.
11. (k) “Conventional mode” means the status of operation of an autonomous vehicle when it is under the active physical control of a driver physically located in the driver's seat operating or driving the vehicle with the automated driving system disengaged.
12. (l) “Cyber security” means the manner in which an autonomous vehicle and supporting infrastructure, including, but not limited to, communications, backend logistics, and remote assistance systems, are protected from cyber threats to electrical or electronic components.
13. (m) “Designee” means the natural person authorized by the manufacturer to drive, operate, or perform a remote operations support function for the manufacturer's autonomous vehicles, autonomous vehicle on-road operations, or automated driving system on public roads.
14. (n) “Detour” is a designated route established by a local public agency or the California Department of Transportation for the express purpose of routing traffic around a temporary closure of a street, as defined by Vehicle Code section 590, for any purpose.
15. (o) “Direct route” means the most efficient path of travel between two designated locations -- such as hubs, shipper or carrier facilities, distribution centers, fueling or charging stations, maintenance facilities, terminals, or other non-residential facilities. A route is considered direct if it follows a generally linear or geographically logical path between those locations and does not include detours or stops that are not required for regulatory compliance, safety, or vehicle servicing.
16. (p) “Driver” means the natural person who drives or is in actual physical control of the autonomous vehicle when it is not operating in the autonomous mode.
17. (q) “Driver's seat” means a sitting or standing position inside the autonomous vehicle from which a natural person is able to perform the dynamic driving task.
18. (r) “Drivered Testing Permit” means an Autonomous Vehicle Testing (AVT) Program Manufacturer Permit, form OL 315 (Rev. 9/2024), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is issued by the department to a manufacturer that operates an autonomous test vehicle, and which requires the presence of an autonomous vehicle test driver to operate on public roads.
19. (s) “Drivered Testing Permit Application” means an Autonomous Vehicle Tester (AVT) Program Application for Manufacturer's Testing Permit, form OL 311 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by the manufacturer and must be approved by the department in order to issue a Drivered Testing Permit form OL 315 (Rev. 9/2024), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The content of the form may be submitted electronically to the department via the department's web page or portal.
20. (t) “Driverless Testing Permit” means an Autonomous Vehicle Testing (AVDT) Program Manufacturer Permit -- Driverless Vehicles, form OL 315A (Rev. 10/2023), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is issued by the department to a manufacturer that operates an autonomous test vehicle, and which does not require the presence of an autonomous vehicle test driver in the driver's seat to operate on public roads.
21. (u) “Driverless Testing Permit Application” means an Autonomous Vehicle Tester (AVT) Program Application for Manufacturer's Testing Permit Driverless Vehicles, form OL 318 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by the manufacturer and must be approved by the department in order to issue a Driverless Testing Permit form OL 315A (Rev. 10/2023), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The content of the form may be submitted electronically to the department via the department's web page or portal.
22. (v) “Drivered Testing Permit Renewal Application” means a Drivered Testing Permit Application, form OL 311 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by a manufacturer that possesses a valid Drivered Testing Permit at the time of application submission to renew the Driverless Testing Permit pursuant to section 227.20(a). The content of the form may be submitted electronically to the department via the department's web page or portal.
23. (w) “Driverless Testing Permit Operational Parameters Modification Application” means a Driverless Testing Permit, form OL 318 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by a manufacturer that possesses a valid Driverless Testing Permit at the time of application submission to make changes listed in sections 227.42(o)(1) through (7). The content of the form may be submitted electronically to the department via the department's web page or portal.
24. (x) “Driverless Testing Permit Renewal Application” means a Driverless Testing Permit, form OL 318 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by a manufacturer that possesses a valid Driverless Testing Permit at the time the application is submitted to renew the Driverless Testing Permit pursuant to section 227.20(a). The content of the form may be submitted electronically to the department via the department's web page or portal.
25. (y) “Dynamic driving task” means all of the real-time operational and tactical functions required to operate a vehicle in on-road traffic, excluding the strategic functions such as trip scheduling, selection of destinations and waypoints, and including without limitation the following subtasks: lateral vehicle motional control via steering (operational); longitudinal vehicle motional control via acceleration and deceleration (operational); monitoring the driving environment via object and event detection, recognition, classification, and response preparation (operational and tactical); object and event response execution (operational and tactical); maneuver planning; (tactical); and enhancing conspicuity via lighting, sounding the horn, signaling, gesturing, etc. (tactical).
26. (z) “Dynamic driving task fallback” is (1) the response by the vehicle user to either perform the dynamic driving task or achieve a minimal risk condition after occurrence of any dynamic driving task performance-relevant system failure(s) or upon operational design domain exit, or (2) the response by an automated driving system to achieve a minimal risk condition given the circumstances identified in (1).
27. (aa) “Dynamic driving task performance relevant system failure” is a malfunction in an automated driving system and/or other vehicle system that prevents the automated driving system from reliably performing its portion of the dynamic driving task on a sustained basis, including the complete dynamic driving task that it would otherwise perform. Dynamic driving task performance relevant system failures include, but are not limited to, situations in which the automated driving system's performance of the dynamic driving task is degraded or inhibited.
28. (bb) “Emergency” means a sudden, unexpected occurrence demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services.
29. (cc) “Emergency geofencing message” is a message using commonly available communication methods to identify a location using a street address, intersection, coordinates, or any other reasonable and customary way of identifying a location, that directs an autonomous vehicle to leave or avoid an area because of an emergency.
30. (dd) “Emergency response official” includes, but is not limited to, emergency dispatchers, first responders, and peace officers as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.
31. (ee) “End user” means the registered owner or lessee of the relevant autonomous vehicle who is not the manufacturer.
32. (ff) “First responder” includes law enforcement, fire department, and emergency medical personnel.
33. (gg) “Imminent hazard” is the existence of an operating condition that presents a substantial likelihood that a severe injury or exacerbation of a severe injury may occur if operations are not restricted or discontinued before an investigation of the risk can be completed.
34. (hh) “Local roads” are public roads that provide primary access to residential areas, businesses, farms, and other local areas.
35. (ii) “Low-speed autonomous vehicle” is an autonomous vehicle that can attain a speed, in one mile, of more than 20 miles per hour and not more than 25 miles per hour, on a paved level surface.
36. (jj) “Manufacturer” means a manufacturer of autonomous technology as defined in Vehicle Code section 38750(a)(5) and includes a vehicle manufacturer as defined in Vehicle Code section 672 that produces an autonomous vehicle from raw materials or new basic components; and, a person as defined in Vehicle Code section 470 who modifies any vehicle by installing autonomous technology.
37. (kk) “Minimal risk condition” is a stable, stopped condition to which a vehicle user or an automated driving system may bring a vehicle after performing the dynamic driving task fallback in order to reduce the risk of a crash when a given trip cannot or should not be continued.
38. (ll) “Notice of Autonomous Vehicle Noncompliance” is a notice, form OL 325 (Rev. 12/2024), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is issued by a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, to a manufacturer due to an alleged violation of the Vehicle Code or local traffic ordinance while an autonomous vehicle was operating in autonomous mode.
39. (mm) “Operational design domain” are the operating conditions under which a given automated driving system or feature thereof is specifically designed to function, including but not limited to, environmental, geographic, and time-of-day restrictions; and/or the requisite presence or absence of certain traffic or roadway characteristics.
40. (nn) “Original Drivered Testing Permit Application” means a Drivered Testing Permit Application, form OL 311 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by a manufacturer that does not possess a valid Drivered Testing Permit at the time of application.
41. (oo) “Original Driverless Testing Permit Application” means a Driverless Testing Permit Application, form OL 318 (Rev. 2/2025), which is hereby incorporated by reference, that is submitted by a manufacturer that does not possess a valid Driverless Testing Permit at the time of application.
42. (pp) “Passenger” means an occupant of a vehicle who has no role in the operation of that vehicle when the autonomous technology is engaged. A passenger may summon a vehicle or input a destination, but does not engage the technology, monitor the vehicle, or drive or operate the vehicle. A member of the public may ride as a passenger in an autonomous test vehicle if there are no fees charged to the passenger or compensation received by the manufacturer.
43. (qq) “Personal information” means information that the autonomous vehicle collects, generates, records, or stores in an electronic form that is retrieved from the vehicles, that is not necessary for the safe operation of the vehicle, and that is linked or reasonably capable of being linked to the vehicle's end user or passengers using the vehicle for transportation services.
44. (rr) “Preliminary information notice” is a request by the department to obtain preliminary information from the manufacturer that addresses or identifies incident(s) involving the operation of an autonomous vehicle(s) on public roads.
45. (ss) “Public road” means “highway” as defined in Vehicle Code section 360, “offstreet public parking facility” as defined in Vehicle Code section 4000, and “street” as defined in Vehicle Code section 590.
46. (tt) “Remote assistant” is a natural person who: is not physically located in the driver's seat of the vehicle; is able to provide information or advice to an autonomous vehicle to facilitate trip continuation when the autonomous vehicle encounters a situation it cannot manage, or alerts the automated driving system of the need to fallback to a minimal risk condition, but does not include remote driving; and is able to provide an autonomous vehicle with revised goals and/or tasks.
47. (uu) “Remote driver” is a natural person who: is not physically located in the driver's seat of the vehicle, and who performs real time performance of part or all of the dynamic driving task and/or the dynamic driving task fall back (including real-time braking, steering, acceleration, and transmission shifting).
48. (vv) “Remote operations support” includes provision of a function by a remotely located human to support on-road operations of an autonomous vehicle, including remote assistance, remote driving, customer support, or dispatching.
49. (ww) “Request for information” is a request by the department to obtain substantive information from the manufacturer that addresses or identifies an incident(s) that occurred involving the operation of an autonomous vehicle(s) on public roads.

50. (xx) “Safety case” is the manufacturer's structured argument, supported by a body of relevant evidence, that provides a compelling, comprehensible, and valid case that safety engineering efforts have ensured an automated driving system does not pose an unreasonable risk of accident, death, injury, or exacerbating injury. A comprehensive description of the safety case shall include a description of the evidence demonstrating functional safety, safety of the intended function, artificial intelligence safety, cybersecurity, and operational safety. The comprehensive description of a safety case must also include core safety information elements. These elements must be addressed in accordance with relevant standards and best practices. Unless noted, each element applies to drivered testing, driverless testing and deployment. A summary of core safety information elements includes, but is not limited to the following:

    1. (1) Use Case Description -- How the automated driving system will be utilized in public-facing operations. Description may include a high level description of automated driving system intended use case; types of interactions with other road users; consumers; infrastructure; expected fleet size for deployment; list of likely hazards associated with the use case.
    2. (2) Operational Design Domain -- Driverless testing and deployment only.
    3. (3) Non-Proprietary Aspects System Design -- Outline of the interaction between key elements within the system. Description may include system design, functional design, hardware, software, supporting system design.
    4. (4) Vehicle Integration -- Description may include information about the existing vehicle platform; high level description of relevant changes made to the vehicle and their impact, if any, to the base vehicle safety features; description of the integration testing conditions for new hardware or software.
    5. (5) Validation and Verification Testing -- Processes for testing and analysis, ensuring completion of testing and analysis, and addressing test failures. Description may include how the validation and verification requirement generation process and testing approach cover known unsafe and unknown unsafe scenarios; outline safety assurance processes which explain the measures in place to assess the effectiveness and safety of all components of the system.
    6. (6) Safety Relevant Human Machine Interactions -- Description may include functionality of the human machine interface communication system.

    7. (7) Safety Management Systems -- Addresses all relevant functions of development, manufacturer, testing, monitoring covering the full scope of the product lifecycle.

       1. (A) Description shall include the following four components:

          1. (i) Safety policy objectives;
          2. (ii) Safety promotion;
          3. (iii) Safety risk management;
          4. (iv) Safety assurance.
       2. (B) An established methodology for managing safety risks with examples of detected safety incidents and how they were addressed through the safety management system.
       3. (C) Information on how the safety management system incorporates feedback loops across all areas.

    8. (8) Fleet Operations and Maintenance and Operations. Description may include:

       1. (A) Processes to track damage, maintenance inspections, and return to service.
       2. (B) Tracking maintenance activities, demonstrating compliance with maintenance schedules.

    9. (9) Remote Operations, including Remote Assistance -- Driverless testing and deployment only. Description shall include:

       1. (A) Broad summary of remote assistance system activation processes-triggering conditions, criteria for initiating remote assistance, response times.
       2. (B) Data shared with remote assistant (e.g., camera feeds, vehicle speed, telematics data). Description shall include how this data exchange promotes situational awareness.
       3. (C) Communication infrastructure that facilitates real-time data exchange between the remote assistant and the autonomous vehicles. The description shall include the average and maximum latencies between the autonomous vehicle and the remote assistant and provide a description of the testing and validation the manufacturer performed to ensure operations are robust in light of these latencies.
       4. (D) Training process for remote drivers or remote assistants, as applicable.

    10. (10) Incident Response and Post-Incident Analysis. Description shall include:

        1. (A) Explanation of incident response processes.
        2. (B) Processes for how information will be shared with third parties (e.g., first responders, department), as appropriate.
        3. (C) Processes for testing incident response plans (e.g., simulations, dry runs, tabletop exercises).
        4. (D) Procedures for post-incident investigations, in-depth root cause analysis, potential corrective measures, prevention strategies and information sharing.

    11. (11) Post Crash Vehicle Response, Data Collection and Analysis. Description shall include:

        1. (A) Process for communicating the incident internally and externally.
        2. (B) Process and steps taken to support the passenger or other road users and parties involved after the crash.
        3. (C) Process for collecting and managing crash related data.
    12. (12) First Responder Safety Interactions -- Driverless testing and deployment only.

    13. (13) Safety-Relevant Cybersecurity -- Formal, comprehensive, and effective methodology to manage safety-relevant cybersecurity. Description may include:

        1. (A) Company's security goals.
        2. (B) Foundational elements of the established methodology.

    14. (14) Misuse Mitigation -- Driverless testing and deployment only. Description may include:

        1. (A) Safety guidelines for passengers and end users.
        2. (B) Educational programs for passengers and end users.
        3. (C) Automated driving system's general response in situations where misuse has been detected to facilitate safety of the passengers and the public.
51. (yy) “Testing” means the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads by employees, contractors, or designees of a manufacturer for the purpose of assessing, demonstrating, and validating the automated driving system's capabilities.
52. (zz) “Vehicle immobilization” means a stop on a public road in an active travel lane when the autonomous vehicle operating in a driverless configuration is not able to continue the dynamic driving task and must be retrieved or requires the vehicle to be driven by a human driver at the scene or a remote driver.

As used in articles 3.7 and 3.8, the following definitions apply:

Note: Authority cited: Sections 1651 and 38750, Vehicle Code. Reference: Sections 360, 470, 590, 672, 4000 and 38750, Vehicle Code.

History

1. New section filed 5-19-2014; operative 9-16-2014 pursuant to Vehicle Code section 38750(f) (Register 2014, No. 21).

2. Amendment filed 2-26-2018; operative 4-1-2018 (Register 2018, No. 9).

3. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (b)(2) filed 4-5-2022 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2022, No. 14).

4. Amendment filed 4-28-2026; operative 4-28-2026 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2026, No. 18).