SB 1246 — Autonomous vehicles.

Summary

Autonomous vehicles.

Bill Text

• Chaptered 09/30/26 - Chaptered html September 30, 2026
• Enrolled 09/04/26 - Enrolled html September 04, 2026
• Amended 08/21/26 - Amended Assembly html August 21, 2026
• Amended 06/24/26 - Amended Assembly Current pdf June 24, 2026
• Amended 06/15/26 - Amended Assembly pdf June 15, 2026
• Amended 05/18/26 - Amended Senate pdf May 18, 2026
• Amended 03/24/26 - Amended Senate pdf March 24, 2026
• Introduced 02/19/26 - Introduced pdf February 19, 2026
• SB1246 View text html

AI-generated reading aid from the bill's amendatory text — verify against the official bill.

This bill amends 1 section(s) of the California codes: Section 38751 of the Vehicle Code.

• Section 38751 of the Vehicle Code

  (g)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2026. SEC. 4.Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 38800) is added to Division 16.6 of the Vehicle Code, to read: (a)“Autonomous passenger service vehicle” means an autonomous vehicle operating without a human driver for compensation or as part of a commercial enterprise for purposes of passenger transportation.(b)“Commercial autonomous vehicle” means an autonomous vehicle operated without a human driver for compensation or as part of a commercial enterprise, including passenger transportation or the delivery of goods or freight.(c) (d)”Emergency response official” includes, but is not limited to, emergency dispatchers, first responders, peace officers as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, and traffic control, traffic enforcement, and parking enforcement personnel from a public agency in an applicable jurisdiction. (e) (f)“Fleetwide emergency or system failure” means any event that simultaneously affects, or has the potential to affect, multiple autonomous vehicles operating under the same software, communications, navigation, or operational system, regardless of geographic location. (g) accidents that involve damage to persons or property, employs 50 or more local incident technicians. Local incident services may include towing services. (h) (i) 38801.A remote driver or local incident technician shall be located within the United States and hold a valid driver’s license of a state or territory of the United States of the appropriate class with any endorsements required for a human driver to lawfully operate the same vehicle in this state.38802.(a)(1)An autonomous vehicle manufacturer shall ensure, through its staffing and assignments, that remote drivers or remote assistants are able to immediately respond to all calls and incidents.(2) (A)Upon notification, electronically or otherwise, of an accident involving damage to persons or property. (3) failure, recovered and create a traffic hazard or impede emergency response. a commercial 38803.The times (2) 38802. 38804.(a)Any commercial autonomous vehicle operated without a human driver on a highway in this state that is equipped with controls that allow someone physically present to drive the vehicle shall be equipped with a manual override system in the vehicle that allows local incident technicians, emergency response officials, tow operators, and trained personnel to readily and safely disable the vehicle, place the vehicle in neutral gear to relocate it during an emergency, and turn off the vehicle.(b) any commercial and an or to to (c) a commercial (b), 38802 (d) 38805. 13519.16 38806. accidents involving damage to persons or property, and Public Utilities Commission upon request. 38807. Section 38801, Section 38802, the autonomous vehicle manufacturers’ permit, or any regulation authorizing the autonomous vehicle manufacturers’ operations. commercial (c) → SEC. 4. Section 38751 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read: (g) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2028, and, as of January 1, 2029, is repealed. SEC. 5. Section 38751 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read: 38751. (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Emergency geofencing message” means a message delivered 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.(2) “Emergency response official” includes, but is not limited to, emergency dispatchers, peace officers as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, and first responders.(3) “Emergency” means a sudden, unexpected occurrence demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services.(b) A manufacturer shall comply with all of the following requirements:(1) (A) A manufacturer operating an autonomous vehicle under a testing permit or deployment permit issued by the department shall maintain a dedicated emergency response telephone line that is available for emergency response officials during all hours when an autonomous vehicle is on a public road. The telephone line shall be available at no cost to public agencies.(B) The manufacturer shall continuously monitor the status of each autonomous vehicle on a public road and shall equip and staff the telephone line to ensure that calls are picked up within 30 seconds by a remote human operator who has situational awareness of all autonomous vehicles on public roads.(C) The remote human operator shall have the ability to immobilize the autonomous vehicle, allow an emergency response official to move the autonomous vehicle, or cause the autonomous vehicle to move as directed by an emergency response official.(D) A manufacturer shall maintain communications capacity, reserved or otherwise assured through contractual arrangements with one or more communications service providers, sufficient to support the maximum number of concurrent remote assistance or teleoperation sessions identified through the manufacturer’s operational design, hazard analysis, and capacity planning. The manufacturer shall ensure, through its staffing and assignments, that remote drivers or remote assistants are able to immediately respond to all calls or incidents for which their support is requested unless the autonomous vehicle’s cellular connectivity is compromised by broader failures in telecommunications infrastructure outside of the manufacturer’s direct control.(2) (A) A manufacturer operating an autonomous vehicle under a testing permit or deployment permit issued by the department shall equip each autonomous vehicle with a two-way voice communication device that enables emergency response officials that are near the vehicle to communicate effectively with a remote human operator who has situational awareness about the autonomous vehicle. The manufacturer shall ensure that an emergency response official is able to reach a remote human operator within 30 seconds after making a request through the device.(B) The remote human operator shall have the ability to immobilize the autonomous vehicle, allow an emergency response official to move the autonomous vehicle, or cause the autonomous vehicle to move as directed by an emergency response official.(3) Autonomous vehicles equipped with an override system in the vehicle that allows someone physically present to move the vehicle, pursuant to subparagraphs (A) and (D) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 38750 shall provide access to the override system to law enforcement and firefighters in case of emergency to allow law enforcement and firefighters to completely immobilize the vehicle or cause the vehicle to move as nece

  added

Action History

1. September 30, 2026

   Approved by the Governor.

2. September 09, 2026

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

3. August 31, 2026

   Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 28. Noes 7.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

4. August 30, 2026

   In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

5. August 30, 2026

   Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 65. Noes 11. Page 6903.) Ordered to the Senate.

6. August 21, 2026

   Ordered to third reading.

7. August 21, 2026

   Read third time and amended.

8. August 13, 2026

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

9. August 13, 2026

   From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (August 13).

10. August 13, 2026

    Assembly Rule 63 suspended.

11. August 05, 2026

    August 5 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

12. July 02, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

13. June 24, 2026

    Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on C. & C.

14. June 23, 2026

    From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on C. & C. (Ayes 13. Noes 2.) (June 22).

15. June 15, 2026

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on TRANS.

16. June 04, 2026

    Referred to Coms. on TRANS., C. & C., and JUD.

17. May 27, 2026

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

18. May 27, 2026

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 27. Noes 9. Page 4503.) Ordered to the Assembly.

19. May 19, 2026

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

20. May 18, 2026

    From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 4270.) (May 14).

21. May 18, 2026

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

22. May 08, 2026

    Set for hearing May 14.

23. May 04, 2026

    May 4 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

24. April 24, 2026

    Set for hearing May 4.

25. April 22, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 3. Page 3979.) (April 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

26. April 16, 2026

    Set for hearing April 21.

27. April 15, 2026

    Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

28. April 08, 2026

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 8. Noes 3. Page 3761.) (April 7). Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

29. March 27, 2026

    Set for hearing April 7.

30. March 24, 2026

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on TRANS.

31. March 04, 2026

    Referred to Com. on TRANS.

32. February 20, 2026

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.

33. February 19, 2026

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

• Dave Cortese · Primary

Votes

Subjects