AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 3, 2025

AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 23, 2025

AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 1, 2025

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

95

Introduced by Senator Gonzalez

February 20, 2025

An act to add Division 16.65 (commencing with Section 38800) to the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: yes

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law regulates vehicles, including autonomous vehicles and autonomous technology in vehicles. Under existing federal statute and regulation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, effective June 16, 2025, that requires specified vehicle and equipment manufacturers and operators of autonomous driving systems and Level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) vehicles to report crashes to NHTSA, as specified. A violation of the Vehicle Code is an infraction.

This bill would require a manufacturer of a Level 2 ADAS vehicle to report a crash involving its Level 2 ADAS vehicle to the Department of Motor Vehicles, including reporting the crash, as defined, within 5 days of the crash, as specified, if specified conditions pertaining to the crash are met. The bill would require the department to post this crash data on its internet website, as specified, and to transmit this data to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department from publishing any proprietary business information, including any personally identifiable information, when posting crash data on its internet website and would make this information confidential and not subject to disclosure under certain public records provisions. The bill would impose a civil penalty of $27,874 per violation per day on a manufacturer that fails to report a crash pursuant to these provisions. The bill would be operative only if the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 is repealed and not replaced with another general order, a federal statute, or a federal regulation that is consistent with the repealed General Order, as determined by the Director of Motor Vehicles.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

By expanding the application of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Division 16.65 (commencing with Section 38800) is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:

Division 16.65. Advanced Driver Assistance System

38800.

(a) (1) (A) A manufacturer of a Level 2 ADAS vehicle shall report a crash involving its Level 2 ADAS vehicle to the Department of Motor Vehicles not later than five calendar days after receipt of notice of a crash, if the crash meets all of the following conditions:

(i) The Level 2 ADAS vehicle is involved in a crash on a publicly accessible road in California.

(ii) The Level 2 ADAS in the vehicle was engaged at any time during the period from 30 seconds immediately prior to the commencement of the crash through the conclusion of the crash.

(iii) The crash results in a fatality, any individual being transported to a hospital for medical treatment, an airbag deployment, or impact with a vulnerable road user.

(iv) The notice of the crash is received 10 calendar days or more after this section becomes operational.

(B) The report shall contain all of the applicable information that is requested in the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as of June 16, 2025.

(C) The report shall be submitted in a format consistent with the requirements of the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 as of June 16, 2025.

(2) A manufacturer that reported a crash pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall provide an updated report by the 15th calendar day of the month following any calendar month in which notice of any materially new or materially different information about the crash is received for any of the following fields: vehicle identification number, engagement status, source, highest severity alleged, subject vehicle damage, subject vehicle precrash movement, air bags deployment status for any vehicle involved, data availability, and narrative.

(b) (1) The department shall post on its internet website the crash data submitted pursuant to this section and update this data every other month. The department shall transmit this data to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board every other month.

(2) (A) The department shall not publish any proprietary business information, including trade secrets as defined in Section 3426.1 of the Civil Code, when posting the data on its internet website under paragraph (1).

(B) The department shall ensure that the data posted under paragraph (1) does not include any personally identifying information.

(3) The information in paragraph (2) is confidential and is not subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).

(c) A manufacturer that fails to report a crash pursuant to this section to the department shall be liable to the department for a civil penalty of twenty-seven thousand eight hundred seventy-four dollars ($27,874) per violation per day.

(d) (1) “ADAS” means advanced driver assistance system.

(2) “Crash” means any physical impact between the vehicle and another road user, including, but not limited to, a vehicle, pedestrian, or cyclist, or property that results or allegedly results in any property damage, injury, or fatality. The vehicle is involved in a crash if it physically impacts another road user or if it contributes or is alleged to contribute, by steering, braking, acceleration, or other operational performance, to another vehicle’s physical impact with another road user or property involved in that crash.

(3) “Level 2 ADAS” means “Level or Category 2 - Partial Driving Automation” in SAE International’s Taxonomy and Definitions for Terms Related to Driving Automation Systems for On-Road Motor Vehicles, standard J3016 (APRL2021).

(4) “Manufacturer” means a person developing, fabricating, manufacturing, assembling, or importing motor vehicles or motor vehicle equipment, including preproduction and prototype motor vehicles and equipment. A manufacturer may also be an operator.

(5) “Motor vehicle” means any preproduction, prototype, or production vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power and being developed or manufactured primarily for use on public roads.

(6) “Motor vehicle equipment” includes any preproduction, prototype, or production Level 2 ADAS, including software or any other component of such system, that is installed on a motor vehicle, or used to control or operate a motor vehicle.

(7) “Person” means corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals.

(8) “Vulnerable road user” means any person who is not an occupant of a motor vehicle with more than three wheels. This definition includes, but is not limited to, pedestrians, persons traveling in wheelchairs, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and riders or occupants of other transport vehicles that are not motor vehicles, including, but not limited to, all-terrain vehicles and tractors.

(e) (1) This section division shall become operative only if the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 is repealed and not replaced with another general order, a federal statute, or a federal regulation that is consistent with the Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01 as of June 16, 2025, as determined by the Director of Motor Vehicles.

(2) The director shall inform the Chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation and the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Transportation in writing of the determination made by the director pursuant to this subdivision.

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 38800 to the Vehicle Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

In order to balance the need for consumer protection against protecting the privacy of proprietary business information and personally identifying information contained in crash report data, it is necessary to limit access to these records.

SEC. 3.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.