S 1798 Autonomous Vehicle Acceleration Act of 2025 (Standards for autonomous vehicles and other purposes)

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2025-05-15

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Governance failure

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Competitive dynamics
• Lack of capability or robustness

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has minimal coverage of AI risk domains, with primary focus on governance failure (6.5) and competitive dynamics (6.4), and limited coverage of system robustness (7.3). The document addresses regulatory barriers and certification challenges for autonomous vehicles rather than broader AI risk categories.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Trade, Transportation & Utilities

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

The document primarily governs the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector, specifically autonomous vehicle transportation services and systems. It secondarily addresses the Manufacturing sector through regulation of autonomous vehicle design and production processes.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a Congressional bill that creates binding legal obligations on the Secretary of Transportation with mandatory language and reporting requirements enforceable through Congressional oversight.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The bill was introduced in the Senate by Ms. Lummis and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, following standard Congressional legislative procedures.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Summary: The bill addresses certification and regulatory requirements for entities developing and deploying autonomous vehicle systems, including design, manufacturing, and commercial deployment.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The Secretary of Transportation, acting through NHTSA, is granted authority to develop, amend, and enforce regulations, conduct rulemakings, and administer exemption processes for autonomous vehicles.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: Congress exercises monitoring through mandatory reporting requirements, while the Secretary of Transportation conducts ongoing assessment through the supplemental technology assessment and periodic roadmap updates.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document covers multiple AI lifecycle stages with primary focus on deployment and regulatory approval. It addresses planning and design considerations for autonomous vehicle systems, verification and validation through certification processes, commercial deployment objectives, and ongoing monitoring through safety assessments and periodic updates.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Systems
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly addresses AI systems in the form of automated driving systems for autonomous vehicles. It focuses on task-specific AI (Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous driving) and does not mention foundation models, generative AI, compute thresholds, or open-source models. The scope is clearly defined around autonomous vehicle technology.