Login

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a rare warning to autonomous vehicle developers to address the “recent, disturbing trend” of driverless vehicles interfering with law enforcement and other first responders. According to NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison: > Over the past several months, NHTSA has identified a clear pattern of driverless AVs interfering with law enforcement and other first responders. The agency has documented multiple instances in which AVs drove directly into active emergency scenes, blocked the paths of ambulances and firefighters, or failed to recognize and respond to basic safety conditions like flashing lights, flares, smoke, fire, and traffic cones. The letter follows a meeting earlier this year between NHTSA and emergency responders to hear their driverless car headaches. The agency says it expects operators to respond with solutions by the end of July. [Link: Trump’s Transportation Department to AV Developers: ‘An Automated Vehicle That Cannot Safely Interact With First Responders is a Danger to the General Public’ | https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2026-07/ADS-developers-letter-july-2026.pdf | NHTSA]