The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed common specifications for optional cyan lights identifying when an automated driving system operates a vehicle. The package also adapts manual lighting controls for driverless designs and updates headlamp rules. A 30-day comment period follows publication in the Federal Register; the changes remain a proposal.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, proposed lighting changes for automated vehicles on October 23. Optional cyan marker lamps would indicate to police and other road users when an automated driving system operates a vehicle. The proposal sets common specifications covering their color, mounting positions, activation and visibility. The lamps are proposed as optional equipment.[1], [2]
The package changes Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108. It adapts requirements for manually operated turn signals, hazard lights and beam-switching controls in vehicles designed exclusively for automated driving. NHTSA also proposes replacing the fixed 12.8-volt test requirement for integral-beam headlamps with certification at appropriate design voltages. Some rules governing the vertical ordering of lower and upper headlamp beams would be removed.[1]
A 30-day public comment period follows publication in the Federal Register, the US government’s official journal. NHTSA says this proposal is separate from the negotiated rulemaking process announced earlier in the month for other parts of the lighting standard. The changes remain proposals rather than requirements already in force. They concern lighting equipment and controls, without automatically authorizing a particular company’s vehicle for road use.[1]
