Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Technology

Overview
Reports & documents
Resources

Overview

An autonomous vehicle drives through an intersection in SoMa, followed by two human-driven vehicles.

Photo by SFMTA Photography Department

San Francisco is a locus of Autonomous Vehicle (AV) deployment, including being one of the epicenters of privately operated commercial AV passenger services in the country. San Francisco continues to support the potential benefits of automated driving, provided deployment occurs in an incremental manner that:

protects public safety;
is accompanied by timely and thorough reporting;
and can demonstrate progress toward reaching California’s and San Francisco’s safety, transportation, climate and equity goals.

While San Francisco does not have a permitting role for AV Passenger Services, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and Mayor have passed a unanimous policy resolution on AVs, and San Francisco transportation agencies (SFMTA and SFCTA) have been active partners to federal and state AV regulatory agencies, providing frequent input to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, California Department of Motor Vehicles and California Public Utilities Commission on AV operations, data/reporting, regulatory and policy matters (see Resources tab). The Transportation Authority has also led a pilot of AV Shuttle Services on Treasure Island.

San Francisco stands ready to partner in the development of a more mature regulatory framework, based on our unique experience and expertise in local AV operations.

Recent Transportation Authority Informational Hearings

For more information on AV operations in San Francisco, and advocacy priorities to regulators, watch our joint staff presentations on San Francisco's AV Experience to the Transportation Authority Board:

November 19, 2024: Staff presentation (PDF) and video
October 24, 2023: Staff presentation (PDF), presentation by Professor Philip Koopman of Carnegie Mellon University (PDF), and video

Conceptual Safety-Focused AV Permitting Framework

San Francisco proposes an incremental, performance-based approach to regulating and deploying AV passenger services, working in collaboration with AV companies, regulators, and community stakeholders.

Explore our conceptual proposal for a safety-focused AV Permitting Framework here.

Reports & documents

Conceptual Safety-Focused AV Permitting Framework Report

The Transportation Authority has developed a conceptual framework for incremental, performance-based permitting of autonomous vehicles (AVs) to evaluate safety, enhance transparency and better manage public risks associated with AV operations.

Conceptual Safety-Focused AV Permitting Framework (PDF)

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
Unplanned stops and vehicle immobilizations
Disengagements and vehicle retrievals

A key principle of the framework is that advancement through stages must be earned through demonstrated performance. This performance-based model introduces 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, and it includes provisions for regulatory flexibility—such as provisional status or reversion to prior stages, rather than automatic permit suspensions.

We welcome collaboration with regulators, industry, researchers, and other stakeholders to further advance these ideas and explore their practical implementation.

Resources