The National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) published a final rule today that is intended to streamline innovation of autonomous vehicles by making it easier to manufacture and test new vehicle technology. The final rule clarifies some ambiguities within the agency vehicle safety standards, such as the crashworthiness requirement for new vehicles.

Since many of the autonomous vehicle technology currently being tested does not assume the presence of a human occupant, crashworthiness requirements for vehicle testing were impeding the innovation process of autonomous vehicles. This ruling is just one in a series of steps NHTSA is taking to encourage the forward progress of autonomous vehicle technology.

To read the NHTSA press release about this final rule, click here.