Photo by SFMTA Photography Department
San Francisco has emerged as a major center for autonomous vehicle, or AV, testing and deployment, with multiple operators conducting AV operations throughout the city.
During the September 9 Transportation Authority Board meeting, board members approved the Conceptual Safety-Focused AV Permitting Framework Final Report. The board will consider final approval at its meeting on September 30.
View the memo and draft final report (PDF)
The purpose of the report is to illustrate what an incremental, performance-based AV permitting framework and process could entail, as well as how it can be applied by state and federal regulators to better ensure public safety and mitigate risks associated with AV deployment on public roads.
The proposed framework outlines five progressive stages of AV deployment, beginning with testing with a safety driver and culminating in unrestricted commercial driverless operations. Each stage is governed by operational constraints – such as geography, fleet size, and hours of operation – which are gradually lifted as operators meet performance benchmarks across key safety metrics, including:
- Collision rates
- Interference with emergency responders
- Vehicle immobilizations and vehicle retrievals
- Disengagements
A key principle of the framework is that advancement through stages must be earned through demonstrated performance. This performance-based model would introduce a structured, risk-managed path for scaling AV operations while ensuring public accountability.
The framework also addresses a longstanding challenge: the lack of data transparency in AV oversight. It emphasizes the need for standardized, publicly available data reporting to support meaningful safety evaluation, informed public debate, and responsible regulatory action. Importantly, the framework recognizes that innovation involves setbacks, which should be viewed as part of the process rather than as critical failures. It also includes provisions for regulatory flexibility, enabling permitting decisions to incorporate context and nuance rather than defaulting to automatic measures.
Ultimately, the framework demonstrates, through a hypothetical case study, how the approach can be applied in practice to support more deliberate and data-driven oversight of AV operations.
Transportation Authority staff engaged with public agencies, research, and industry experts in conducting this study. We welcome further collaborations with regulators, industry, and researchers to develop this conceptual framework going forward.
Contact: av@sfcta.org
Resources
Review the presentation to the Transportation Authority Board (PDF)
View the memo and draft final report (PDF)
Watch the presentation at the September 9 Transportation Authority Board meeting
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