Cyan lamps could become the signal that nobody is driving the car next to you

NHTSA has proposed a rule that would let driverless vehicles carry steady cyan lamps on every side, a visible cue that the car next to a driver or pedestrian is steering itself. A vehicle fitted under the proposal would carry between four and eight of them, and the agency’s notice makes clear that no manufacturer would be forced to install any.

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Administrator Jonathan Morrison signed the notice of proposed rulemaking on October 22, 2026, and TechCrunch’s mobility newsletter picked it up three days later. In the agency’s own framing the cyan lamps are the visible edge of a broader deregulatory cleanup of the federal lighting standard.

Four to eight cyan lamps, steady and at least 15 inches up

The proposal, a notice amending FMVSS No. 108, would create what NHTSA calls ADS marker lamps for vehicles run by an automated driving system. According to the pre-publication text of the notice, each vehicle would have one or two lamps facing the front, the sides and the rear, so four to eight in total, with at least one visible from every direction. The lamps must be mounted at least 15 inches above the ground, inside or outside the body within the limits the proposal sets out for lamp position.

Color and behavior are fixed tightly. The light must be cyan as defined in SAE J578, it must burn steadily and may not flash, and it may not be optically combined with any other lamp. The notice defines an ADS marker lamp as one “used to indicate when a vehicle is operating without the expectation that an occupant is monitoring the roadway,” which is the sense the signal question turns on. It is an option, and the distinction matters for how widely the signal would appear. A cyan lamp would become a recognized signal only if manufacturers choose to build it in, and the proposal gives them room to decide how: lamps may be mounted inside or outside the vehicle. NHTSA is not proposing to require ADS marker lamps on every automated vehicle, and any lamp a manufacturer does install would have to meet the specification.

Why cyan, and not a color already in use? NHTSA argues that a standardized color already used for required lighting “would not have clear meaning,” and quotes SAE as saying a unique color allows greater flexibility in mounting location and facilitates innovation. The agency’s stated worry is that non-standardized lamps could cause “confusion or distraction among drivers and other road users.” It cites an international survey of more than 4,400 drivers in the UK, Japan, the U.S. and Germany in which upwards of 80 percent of respondents in the United States and the United Kingdom supported marker lamps on automated vehicles, and a two-year California validation run by Mercedes-Benz from 2023 to 2025 using five vehicles.

Turn signals, high beams and hazards without a human hand

The lamps draw the attention, but most of the notice is about controls. For automated vehicles built without manually operated driving controls, the proposal would loosen several requirements that assume a person is in the front seat. A turn signal would no longer need to cancel automatically when the steering wheel rotates, or be cancelable by hand; a turn signal control would still be required. A headlamp beam switch would not need to be operable by hand or foot, though one must still exist. The rule requiring a multiple-switch ease-of-actuation test for hazard warning controls would apply only to vehicles that have manual driving controls.

Telltales, the dashboard indicators for turn signals and upper beams, would likewise be required only on vehicles with manual driving controls. The hazard warning telltale is treated differently: it would stay, and NHTSA specifically asks for comment on that point. The notice also removes the rule requiring lower beams to sit above upper beams in vertical headlamp arrangements, keeps height limits as they are, and would test integral beam headlamps at the voltage the manufacturer specifies instead of the standard 12.8 volts.

Vehicles the old lighting rules never imagined

The stated reason is that the federal motor vehicle safety standards were written around cars with a driver. As TechCrunch Mobility reported, they were not designed for vehicles like the Tesla Cybercab and the Zoox robotaxi, which have no pedals, steering wheel or mirrors; the newsletter describes Morrison as presenting the lighting proposal as one piece of a larger effort to update rules for automated vehicles while maintaining safety.

The same push is visible elsewhere in the Federal Register. A proposed amendment to FMVSS No. 110 published April 1, 2026 would let vehicles with no driver’s side put the tire information placard on the left, and NHTSA announced a rewrite of its tire safety standards on October 26. Robotaxis are already carrying passengers on public roads: Waymo, for example, started collecting airport passengers in Las Vegas late in October.

California’s law and the comment period

The notice reaches into state law. NHTSA tentatively concludes that the rule would preempt parts of California’s ADS marker lamp law, along with some state laws that effectively block marker lamps meeting the federal specification, and it seeks comment on both conclusions. It calls the action deregulatory, and proposes that it take effect immediately, on the reasoning that the changes add flexibility rather than new burdens.

The California conflict is specific. The notice says the state explicitly permits ADS marker lamps built to SAE J3134 and J578, citing sections 25950 and 38750 of the Vehicle Code, and NHTSA tentatively believes a final rule would preempt those sections wherever its specification differs from J3134. Those differences include photometry, lamp location, optical combining, manual activation and the boundaries of the cyan color. SAE J3134 was first issued in May 2019 for front lamps and revised in December 2025 to add side and rear lamps; NHTSA says its proposal “largely, but not entirely,” aligns with it. The agency has not quantified benefits or costs, expects no incremental cost from the optional lamps, and says that without the change, such vehicles would seek exemptions from the standard.

The docket is NHTSA-2026-1519, under RIN 2127-AM70. Comments are due 30 days after Federal Register publication; the web copy carries a placeholder where the date will go, and the agency notes that the published version governs. Until that date is set, the open question for the cyan lamp is the one the notice itself flags: whether any automaker chooses to fit it.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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