NHTSA proposes driverless trucks be equipped with blue marker lights

Sting told Roxanne that she didn't have to "put on the red light," but federal regulators are suggesting that driverless vehicles could put on a blue one.

In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offered updates to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, which governs lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment. The proposal would modernize vehicle lighting standards to accommodate fully autonomous vehicles and introduced a standardized cyan-colored marker lamp to signal when a self-driving system is engaged.

The optional Automated Driving System (ADS) marker lamps, if equipped, would include four to eight steady-burning cyan (blueish-green) lamps visible from the front, sides, and rear to signal law enforcement and other road users that the automated system is in full control.

The proposed changes address rules created when all vehicles relied on human drivers (remember those days?), and come at a time when autonomous trucking is really taking off.

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