Originally published on July 16th, 2025 by NBC Bay Area and written by Bigad Shaban

Newly proposed legislation by a California congressman could change the way autonomous vehicles operate nationwide, including in the Bay Area – one of the world’s largest testing grounds for self-driving cars.

On Tuesday, Congressman Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo) introduced the ‘AV Safety Data Act,‘ legislation that would force driverless car companies to disclose how far their autonomous vehicles have traveled and how often their sudden and unplanned stops impede law enforcement, first responders, and public transit agencies.

“I think there’s great promise with this technology to actually reduce pedestrian fatalities, auto accidents, and so forth, but people need to feel safe when they are getting into an autonomous vehicle,” Mullin told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit.  “The only way we know that is if we have a robust collection of data.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which oversees autonomous vehicles as the industry’s official regulatory agency, already requires self-driving car companies to self-report details involving collisions. Mullin’s proposed bill, however, would extend the mandate to also include “unplanned stoppages,” where autonomous vehicles appear to skirt traffic laws by suddenly coming to a halt.  A slew of NBC Bay Area investigative reports has shown how such incidents have been blamed for impeding law enforcement and first responders during emergencies.

“Thank you to NBC…I appreciate the attention you are putting on this,” Mullin said.  “The ‘unplanned stoppages’ element has sort of been ignored by federal regulators to this point – that’s a really important element in terms of real-world conditions on our streets with police, fire, utility trucks, and public transportation – especially in an urbanized environment like San Francisco.”

NHTSA is not weighing in on Mullin’s critiques or his latest proposal, citing the agency’s practice of not commenting on pending legislation.

While 30 different companies are permitted to test their driverless vehicles across California, Waymo remains the only fleet of self-driving cars in the state allowed to shuttle paying passengers.  The company operates more than 700 autonomous vehicles across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, and boasts more than 70 million driverless miles traveled since 2019.  While Waymo isn’t commenting on Mullin’s pending legislation, it has previously supported the idea of increasing the amount of data federal regulators collect from autonomous vehicle companies – including the total number of vehicle miles traveled, which Mullin’s bill would require as part of its effort to expand reporting requirements.

“This will allow safety researchers to do industry-wide analysis,” Waymo noted in a blog post last year, which announced the launch of the company’s online dashboard, which has continued to be updated regularly with company safety data, including miles traveled and a breakdown of the company’s crash ratings as compared to human drivers.   

Waymo has repeatedly said it stands by its safety record.  According to data from NHTSA, Waymo’s fleet of driverless cars has only been involved in one fatal crash, which San Francisco police determined was caused by the driver of another vehicle – not the self-driving Waymo.

While Mullin remains optimistic about securing enough support to turn his proposed legislation into federal law, the democrat remains at the whim of a republican-controlled Congress.

“It’s pretty hard to argue against the collection of data if you’re talking about safety,” Mullin said.  “This should not cut on partisan lines.”