Notice2026-10363
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for Comment; Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 26, 2026
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Abstract
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) summarized below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. This ICR is for NHTSA's information collection for incident reporting requirements for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). NHTSA previously requested and received a three-year approval of this information collection. NHTSA now requests OMB's approval for a three-year reinstatement of this previously approved information collection with modifications. These modifications streamlined reporting requirements to reduce burdens compared to the prior version of this information collection and sharpened the focus on safety critical information. A Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting public comments on the following information collection was published on March 4, 2026 (Docket No. NHTSA-2026-0529), and NHTSA received fourteen comments.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 100 (Tuesday, May 26, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 26, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30789-30796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10363]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2026-0529]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Request for
Comment; Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and
Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a reinstatement of a
previously approved information collection with modifications.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR)
summarized below will be submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The ICR describes the nature of
the information collection and its expected burden. This ICR is for
NHTSA's information collection for incident reporting requirements for
Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance
Systems (ADAS). NHTSA previously requested and received a three-year
approval of this information collection. NHTSA now requests OMB's
approval for a three-year reinstatement of this previously approved
information collection with modifications. These modifications
streamlined reporting requirements to reduce burdens compared to the
prior version of this information collection and sharpened the focus on
safety critical information. A Federal Register notice with a 60-day
comment period soliciting public comments on the following information
collection was published on March 4, 2026 (Docket No. NHTSA-2026-0529),
and NHTSA received fourteen comments.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before June 25, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection, including suggestions for reducing burden,
should be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget at
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. To find this particular information
collection, select ``Currently under Review--Open for Public Comment''
or use the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Michael Kuppersmith, Office of Chief
Counsel, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d3bebab0bbb2b6bffdb8a6a3a3b6a1a0bebaa7bb93b7bca7fdb4bca5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="234e4a404b42464f0d485653534651504e4a574b63474c570d444c55">[email protected]</span></a>, Telephone: (202) 366-9957;
Mailing
[[Page 30790]]
address: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), a
Federal agency must receive approval from the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) before it collects certain information from the public,
and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information
by a Federal agency unless the collection displays a valid OMB control
number. In compliance with these requirements, this notice announces
that the following information collection request will be submitted
OMB.
Title: Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and
Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).
OMB Control Number: 2127-0754.
Form Number(s): Form 1612.
Type of Request: Approval of a reinstatement of a previously
approved collection of information with modifications.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Length of Approval Requested: Three years from date of approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: The previously approved
information collection request (ICR) for which NHTSA is requesting a
reinstatement requires certain manufacturers of motor vehicles and
equipment and operators of motor vehicles to submit incident reports
for
certain crashes involving ADS and Level 2 ADAS. These crash
reporting obligations are set forth in NHTSA's Standing General Order
2021-01 (General Order), which requires those manufacturers and
operators named in and served with the General Order to report crashes
that meet specified criteria to NHTSA.\1\
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\1\ A copy of the General Order is available on NHTSA's website
at <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting">https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting</a>.
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Specifically, the General Order requires the named manufacturers
and operators (the reporting entities) to submit reports if they
receive notice of certain crashes involving an ADS or Level 2 ADAS
equipped vehicle that occur on publicly accessible roads in the United
States. To be reportable, the vehicle, the ADS, or the Level 2 ADAS
must have been manufactured by the reporting entity or the vehicle must
have been operated by an ADS reporting entity at the time of the crash,
and the ADS or Level 2 ADAS must have been engaged at the time of or
immediately before (<=30 seconds) the crash. The reporting obligations
are limited to those entities served with the General Order. The
General Order imposes no reporting obligations on any other companies
and likewise imposes no reporting obligations on any individual
consumers.
In the event of a reportable crash, the General Order requires the
reporting entity to submit an incident report electronically to NHTSA.
The required report includes basic information sufficient for NHTSA to
identify those crashes warranting follow-up. Crashesinvolving ADS or
Level 2 ADAS equipped vehicles that meet specified criteria must be
reported within five calendar days after the reporting entity receives
notice of the crash, and other crashes involving ADS equipped vehicles
must be reported on a monthly basis. The reporting obligations in the
General Order are specific to these crashes, which are a primary source
of information regarding potential defects in ADS or Level 2 ADAS.
The agency has been receiving incident reports under its previous
approval. Based on the agency's experience in reviewing these reports
and on the public comments it has received previously, NHTSA has
amended the General Order. These amendments streamlined the reporting
requirements of prior versions of the General Order to reduce burdens
and more efficiently collect actionable information. These amendments
refined the focus of reporting on critical safety information while
removing unnecessary and duplicative requirements. The specific
requirements are detailed later in this notice. In general, they
streamline the reporting requirements in several key ways: (1) making
reports of the most severe types of crashes due within five days and
reports of less severe crashes due monthly; (2) refining the scope of
crashes that are reportable for ADS and ADAS, such as by adding a
property damage threshold for less severe crashes involving ADS; (3)
eliminating the requirement in prior versions of the General Order that
multiple entities report the same crash, except in situations where
entities have different information from one another; (4) eliminating
requirements that entities must update reports at designated intervals
even if no new information exists; (5) eliminating the requirement that
entities submit reports to NHTSA each month even if they have no
crashes to report for that month; and (6) streamlining the electronic
form used for reporting by eliminating data elements that are not
safety critical.
More specifically, under Request No. 1 of the General Order, a
reporting entity must report any crash involving an ADS or Level 2 ADAS
equipped vehicle that results in any individual being transported to a
hospital for medical treatment, a fatality, an air bag deployment, or
that involves a strike of a vulnerable road user. If the crash involved
a subject vehicle equipped with an ADS, a reporting entity must also
report any crash resulting in a vehicle tow-away. Under any of these
circumstances, the reporting entity must submit a report within five
days after the reporting entity receives notice of the crash. Under
Request No. 3, reporting entities must submit an updated report if they
receive notice of any materially new or materially different
information for specified fields: VIN, engagement status, source,
highest severity alleged, subject vehicle damage, subject vehicle pre-
crash movement, air bags deployment status for any vehicle involved,
data availability, and narrative. This updated report is due on the
fifteenth day of the month following the month in which they received
notice of the new or different information.
Separately, under Request No. 2 of the General Order, a reporting
entity must report any crash involving an ADS equipped vehicle that
does not meet the previous criteria but nonetheless involves property
damage. These reports are due on the fifteenth day of the month after
the reporting entity receives notice of the crash. Specifically,
Request No. 2 requires reports for crashes in which the property damage
is reasonably expected to exceed $1,000, the subject vehicle was the
only vehicle involved in the crash, or the subject vehicle struck
another vehicle or object (as opposed to being struck). The reports
required under Request No. 2 and Request No. 3 utilize the same form
and request the same information as the five-day reports required under
Request No. 1.
This information collection provides NHTSA with information it
needs to carry out its statutory mandate to protect the public against
unreasonable risk of accidents occurring because of the design,
construction, or performance of a motor vehicle, and against
unreasonable risk of death or injury in an accident.
On March 6, 2023, OMB approved NHTSA's three-year extension of its
information collection for the previous version of the General Order
(OMB Control No. 2127-0754). NHTSA is publishing this document to seek
a reinstatement of this information collection with modifications.
NHTSA significantly reduced the burden of this information
collection through its changes to streamline the
[[Page 30791]]
General Order. Specifically, the changes eliminated some categories of
burden addressed in the prior Paperwork Reduction Act analysis, saving
5,639 burden hours annually. For other categories, NHTSA significantly
reduced the burdens by eliminating unnecessary and duplicative
reporting requirements. NHTSA also expects reporting to be more
efficient now that most of the reporting entities have more than five
years of experience and established internal processes. With these
changes, along with NHTSA's improved ability to estimate burdens after
more than five years of reporting under the General Order, NHTSA now
estimates an annual burden of 19,208 hours--a substantial reduction
from the estimated burden associated with the prior versions of the
General Order. NHTSA requested comment on these estimates.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: Under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act,
as amended (the Safety Act), 49 U.S.C. Chapter 301, NHTSA is charged
with authority ``to reduce traffic accidents and deaths and injuries
resulting from traffic accidents.'' To carry out this statutory
mandate, NHTSA has broad information gathering authority, including
authority to obtain information on vehicle crashes, potential defects
related to motor vehicle safety, and compliance with legal requirements
to timely identify and conduct recalls for safety defects. 49 U.S.C.
30166(e), (g), 30118-30120; 49 CFR part 510.
Both ADS and ADAS are ``motor vehicle equipment'' subject to the
requirements of the Safety Act. Given the rapid evolution of these
technologies and increasing testing of new technologies and features on
publicly accessible roads, it is critical for NHTSA to exercise its
oversight over potential safety defects in vehicles operating with ADS
and Level 2 ADAS.
NHTSA uses the information to evaluate whether specific
manufacturers (including manufacturers of prototype vehicles and
equipment) are meeting their statutory obligations to ensure that their
vehicles and equipment are free of defects that pose an unreasonable
risk to motor vehicle safety or are recalled if such a safety defect is
identified. NHTSA's oversight of potential safety defects in vehicles
operating on publicly accessible roads using ADS or Level 2 ADAS
requires that NHTSA have timely information on incidents involving
those vehicles. In carrying out the Safety Act, NHTSA may ``require, by
general or special order, any person to file reports or answers to
specific questions.'' 49 U.S.C. 30166(g)(1)(A).
60-Day Notice: NHTSA received fourteen comments in response to the
60-day notice.\2\ Most of the comments were supportive of the three-
year extension of the General Order, but also proposed various changes
to the General Order. NHTSA has considered all of the comments
submitted and will be retaining the General Order in its current form
at this time. NHTSA believes it has struck an appropriate balance of
who needs to report, when they need to report, and what they need to
report to provide NHTSA with sufficient safety-critical information to
determine when to investigate further without imposing an undue burden.
Most of the changes proposed by commenters would alter the scope and
nature of the General Order, which NHTSA does not intend for this
reinstatement. NHTSA responds below to the relevant and in-scope
comments it received.\3\
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\2\ Four of the comments were from a single individual. See
Comment from Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0006
(Apr. 27, 2026); Comment from Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-
2026-0529-0008 (Apr. 28, 2026); Comment from Raymond Biscocho
Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0010 (Apr. 29, 2026); Comment from
Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0011 (Apr. 29, 2026).
\3\ NHTSA is planning a rulemaking to codify the General Order
(RIN 2127-AM63). If a proposed rule is published, the comment
process may provide an opportunity for the public to submit their
views relating to the General Order's nature and scope.
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Definitions
Some of the comments raised concerns with the definitions in the
General Order, namely ``crash'' and ``notice.'' \4\ The operative
version of the General Order defines ``crash'' as:
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\4\ See, e.g., Comment from Robo Shepherd Inc., NHTSA-2026-0529-
0002 (Mar. 16, 2026); Comment from the Alliance for Automotive
Innovation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0014 (May 4, 2026); Comment from
Consumer Reports, NHTSA-2026-0529-0015 (May 4, 2026).
any physical impact between a vehicle and another road user
(vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist, etc.) or property that results or
allegedly results in any property damage, injury, or fatality. A
subject vehicle is involved in a crash if it physically impacts
another road user or if it contributes or is alleged to contribute
(by steering, braking, acceleration, or other operational
performance) to another vehicle's physical impact with another road
user or property involved in that crash.\5\
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\5\ Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 4 (Apr. 24,
2025).
This definition was designed to be both broad and objective, to
ensure that NHTSA receives reports of incidents that will allow it to
identify those that warrant further investigation, and limiting the
need for reporting entities to make subjective judgment calls about
whether an incident qualifies as a ``crash.'' Moreover, this definition
remains consistent with the definition used in the previous versions of
the General Order and has been in effect since 2021.\6\ NHTSA will
retain this definition.
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\6\ See First Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 6 (Aug.
5, 2021); Second Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 6 (Apr.
5, 2023).
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``Notice'' is defined ``more broadly than in 49 CFR 579.4,''
specifically meaning:
information you have received from any internal or external source
and in any form (whether electronic, written, verbal, or otherwise)
about an incident that occurred or is alleged to have occurred,
including, but not limited to vehicle reports, test reports, crash
reports, media reports, consumer or customer reports, claims,
demands, and lawsuits. A manufacturer or operator has notice of a
crash or a specified reporting criterion (i.e., fatality, a
resulting hospital-treated injury, vehicle tow-away, air bag
deployment, or the strike of a vulnerable road user) when it has
notice of facts or alleged facts sufficient to meet the definition
of a crash or a specified reporting criterion, regardless of whether
the manufacturer has verified those facts. ``Notice'' does not
encompass any crash that you learned about solely from another
entity's report pursuant to this General Order if you have no
materially additional or different information to report. If you
have any other source of notice regarding this crash, your duty to
report the incident runs from the date the separate notice is
received.\7\
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\7\ Third Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 6 (Apr. 5,
2023).
Note that this definition includes information the reporting entity
has received from ``any'' source and in ``any'' form; it is not limited
to information received only from telematics. This definition is also
generally consistent with the definition used in the previous versions
of the General Order, again since 2021.\8\ NHTSA will retain this
definition as well.
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\8\ See First Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 8-9
(Aug. 5, 2021); Second Amended Standing General Order 2021-01, at 9
(Apr. 5, 2023).
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Scope of Reporting Entities
Some commenters raised issues with the scope of entities required
to report under the General Order.\9\ One commenter advocated for
eliminating Level 2 ADAS from the reporting requirement. NHTSA believes
that continuing to collect reports from Level
[[Page 30792]]
2 ADAS vehicles is necessary and appropriate for safety oversight. The
Level 2 ADAS reporting received under the General Order thus far has
informed numerous NHTSA investigations and provided the agency with
actionable information relating to Level 2 ADAS crashes. Level 2 ADAS
continues to evolve as a technology and timely reports of crashes
involving the technology benefit safety. NHTSA will continue to
evaluate the appropriate scope of the General Order over time,
particularly as the technology develops further.
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\9\ See, e.g., Comment from PrimeVitas AI, NHTSA-2026-0529-0003
(Mar. 27, 2026); Comment from the Alliance for Automotive
Innovation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0014 (May 4, 2026).
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NHTSA notes that ADS (Level 4 or otherwise) and Level 2 ADAS are
subject to nearly identical reporting requirements under Requests Nos.
1 and 3, regardless of whether commercial fares are collected for
vehicles deploying such technologies. These requirements cover the most
serious incidents, specifically those resulting in a fatality, any
individual being transported to a hospital for medical treatment, a
strike of a vulnerable road user, or an air bag deployment. ADS
vehicles are subject to the additional requirements of reporting
incidents under Request No. 1 that result in a vehicle tow-away and the
requirements of Request No. 2 for less serious crashes limited to
property damage. It is appropriate to subject ADS vehicles to these
limited additional reporting requirements because ADS performs the
entire dynamic driving task on a sustained basis within a defined
operational design domain (ODD) without driver involvement. Broader
reporting requirements for ADS crashes has been a consistent feature of
the SGO in previous versions since its inception in 2021. At present,
NHTSA has not structured the reporting requirements around specific use
cases, such as ``commercial ride-hailing.'' Doing so here would involve
a larger overhaul of the reporting system in order to identify other
use cases and tailor reporting to the information most relevant to
each. NHTSA declines to overhaul the General Order in this way at this
time.
Reporting Requirements
Most commenters raised various issues with the reporting
requirements.\10\ NHTSA appreciates these comments but will be
retaining the current reporting requirements at this time. Many of the
changes proposed by these commenters would increase the reporting
burden, significantly in some cases, or require costly overhauls of the
General Order reporting system.
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\10\ See, e.g., Comment from Robo Shepherd Inc., NHTSA-2026-
0529-0002 (Mar. 16, 2026); Comment from Virginia Department of
Transportation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0004 (Apr. 14, 2026); Comment from
Burak Oktenli, NHTSA-2026-0529-0007 (Apr. 27, 2026); Comment from
Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0006 (Apr. 27, 2026);
Comment from Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0008
(Apr. 28, 2026); Comment from Raymond Biscocho Duculan Sr., NHTSA-
2026-0529-0010 (Apr. 29, 2026); Comment from Raymond Biscocho
Duculan Sr., NHTSA-2026-0529-0011 (Apr. 29, 2026); Comment from
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, NHTSA-2026-0529-0009 (Apr.
29, 2026); Comment from Texas Department of Transportation, NHTSA-
2026-0529-0012 (Apr. 30, 2026); Comment from The American
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), NHTSA-2026-
0529-0013 (May 4, 2026); Comment from the Alliance for Automotive
Innovation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0014 (May 4, 2026).
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Low damage ADS incidents (i.e., where the property damage is
reasonably expected to not exceed $1,000) not otherwise reportable
under Request No. 1 are still reportable under Request No. 2 if the
subject vehicle was the only vehicle involved in the crash or if the
subject vehicle struck another vehicle or object. These limits were
designed to filter out many incidents in which the subject vehicle was
stationary and was struck by another vehicle. A primary goal of the
recent General Order modifications was to streamline the collection
process, sharpening the focus on relevant safety events and enabling
NHTSA to investigate further as appropriate. To do so, NHTSA focused
the reporting on the types of incident reports that have most informed
its investigations. Augmenting the reporting to add new types of
incident reports is inconsistent with these goals. In addition,
requiring industry to report near-misses or successful automated
interventions where no physical impact occurred would increase the
reporting burden.
NHTSA recognizes that automated technology can contribute to
incidents even when the subject vehicle is stationary. The more severe
incidents of these types of crashes, such as when there is an injury or
airbag deployment, are still required to be reported, allowing NHTSA to
determine whether additional follow-up is warranted. NHTSA also relies
on other sources, such as consumer complaints (Vehicle Owner
Questionnaires or VOQs) and media reports, to determine whether an
investigation is appropriate. Based on the agency's experience
reviewing thousands of General Order reports since 2021, NHTSA believes
that reports of ``fender bender'' incidents with minor damage are less
likely to provide actionable information than the incident scenarios
encompassed in the General Order. Since these types of reports are no
longer required by the General Order, the burden has been reduced for
reporting entities, allowing NHTSA to allocate its resources towards
higher severity events. Independent of the General Order reporting
criteria, manufacturers remain obligated to report a safety-related
defect to NHTSA pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 30118.
The General Order is an early-warning mechanism to help NHTSA
oversee safety defects by collecting and reviewing discrete crash
incident reports. It is not currently a program designed to support
normalized, ``apples-to-apples'' comparison scorecards of the various
technologies. Adding data such as the comprehensive total fleet mileage
or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to the General Order program would
alter the focus and burdens of the reporting requirements. NHTSA
retains its ability to obtain additional relevant information, such as
mileage or the specific SAE level, during its follow-up investigations.
Likewise, NHTSA requires some information regarding the surface
conditions and crash scene in the General Order reports--information
sufficient to determine whether additional investigation is
appropriate--but requiring more detailed data, such as real-time
congestion data, specific signal timing, or intersection phasing, would
impose a higher burden on the reporting entities relative to its value
in identifying safety-related defects under the current format of the
General Order. To the extent additional information is relevant, the
reporting entity can include it in the free-text narrative field. If
NHTSA suspects that specific elements may be a factor in the crashes
that are being reported, it can seek the relevant information through a
follow-up request.
The General Order form already requires entities to state whether
the subject vehicle was operating within its ODD at the time of the
incident. Forcing manufacturers to categorize incidents into more
detailed ODD classifications would complicate the reporting form
unnecessarily. If NHTSA deems that information important, it can
request it as part of a follow-up investigation.
The General Order governs the reporting of incidents. How a
manufacturer executes a safety correction--whether through an over-the-
air software update or a physical service center recall--is tracked
under separate statutory recall frameworks. This information is
collected by NHTSA as part of those recall procedures and is available
publicly on NHTSA's website.\11\
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\11\ See <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls">https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls</a>.
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[[Page 30793]]
NHTSA believes that 30 seconds of engagement remains an appropriate
threshold for reporting to account for the handoff time between manual
and automated control and potential mode confusion. Significantly
changing the time of engagement now may also make it difficult to
compare reporting trends with prior versions of the General Order.
NHTSA will continue to consider this issue as it works to codify the
General Order into regulations and welcomes additional data and
research on this point.
NHTSA acknowledges that some states have duplicative or additional
reporting requirements. A key principle of NHTSA's Automated Vehicles
(AV) Framework is to supplant an onerous patchwork of State laws and
regulations. Maintaining comprehensive and consistent Federal
requirements furthers this goal, reducing the likelihood that
manufacturers will face multitudinous different reporting formats.
NHTSA is not inclined to change Federal requirements to avoid any
conflicts that may arise with overlapping State requirements. NHTSA
routinely engages with States and local authorities relating to their
own reporting, encouraging them to align their requirements if they
must overlap. Separately, some commenters advocated for NHTSA to modify
its crash reporting database to better facilitate research, much like
other NHTSA crash reporting systems. Although research is not the
primary goal of the General Order, NHTSA will consider ways to publish
and present the data to assist the public in reviewing the information.
Burden Estimates
Some commenters raised issues with the burden estimates.\12\ NHTSA
appreciates the concerns identified, but NHTSA affirms its burden
estimates at this time. NHTSA recognizes that some reports involve more
complex incidents, but based on its experience reviewing thousands of
General Order reports since 2021, many reports involve straightforward
information. The burden estimates are designed to represent averages
across the industry. NHTSA continues to believe that even as the use of
these emerging technologies develop and expand, so too does the
industry's familiarity and experience with these reports. These events,
in conjunction with the streamlining of the required reporting in this
version of the General Order, serve to reduce the overall burden of the
General Order reporting program.
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\12\ See, e.g., Comment from Texas Department of Transportation,
NHTSA-2026-0529-0012 (Apr. 30, 2026); Comment from the Alliance for
Automotive Innovation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0014 (May 4, 2026).
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Publication of Data
Some comments raised issues with the public availability of the
information in the General Order reports related to confidential
business information (CBI) and personally identifiable information
(PII) and concerns about verifying the accuracy and completeness of the
public reports.\13\ As a threshold matter, NHTSA notes that the data is
publicly available to everyone, including state DOTs, on NHTSA's
website and updated monthly with redactions for PII and information
claimed to be CBI. NHTSA reviews other sources of information,
including police reports, media reports, and consumer complaints, to
ensure that reportable incidents are being reported and that NHTSA has
relevant available information.
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\13\ See, e.g., Comment from Virginia Department of
Transportation, NHTSA-2026-0529-0004 (Apr. 14, 2026); Comment from
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, NHTSA-2026-0529-0009 (Apr.
29, 2026); Comment from Texas Department of Transportation, NHTSA-
2026-0529-0012 (Apr. 30, 2026); Comment from Consumer Reports,
NHTSA-2026-0529-0015 (May 4, 2026).
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NHTSA is bound by federal law and its own regulations regarding CBI
and PII.\14\ NHTSA cannot release this information to third parties,
including state governments. In the General Order, NHTSA limited what
information reporting entities can claim to be CBI, consistent with the
law and the approach taken in the previous versions of the General
Order since 2021. NHTSA specified that, except for such information,
``the nature of the crash-related information required by the incident
report form is widely available to the public from law enforcement
agencies and through motor vehicle crash databases maintained by
NHTSA.'' Accordingly, NHTSA provided express notice that NHTSA ``will
not keep this information confidential, intends to make it publicly
available, and is providing no assurance to [reporting entities] to the
contrary.'' NHTSA will continue to review the information designated as
CBI and PII in General Order reports to determine whether additional
information can be released publicly consistent with Federal law.
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\14\ See, e.g., 5 U.S.C. 552, 552a; 49 U.S.C. 30167; 49 CFR part
512.
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Miscellaneous Issues
One comment proposed changing the reporting deadline for reports
under Request No. 1 from five calendar days after receipt of notice of
an incident to five business days.\15\ NHTSA believes five calendar
days is an appropriate amount of time for such reports, and reporting
entities can file reports early to avoid having to submit on a weekend
or holiday.\16\ NHTSA notes that the ``calendar day'' standard remains
consistent with the previous versions of the General Order in effect
since 2021. NHTSA also notes that the five-day deadline only applies to
initial reports under Request No. 1; reporting entities can submit
updated reports later, subject to the requirements of Request No.
3.\17\ Moreover, in this version of the General Order, NHTSA already
extended the deadline for certain reports by eliminating the one-day
reporting track.
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\15\ See Comment from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation,
NHTSA-2026-0529-0014 (May 4, 2026).
\16\ The General Order specifies that, ``[i]f the deadline for
the submission of any report required by this General Order, other
than those reports required within five calendar days under Request
No. 1, falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the deadline is
extended to the next business day that is not a Federal holiday.''
\17\ Updated incident reports under Request No.3 are not due
until ``the fifteenth (15th) calendar day of the month following any
calendar month in which you receive notice of any materially new or
materially different information for'' specified fields in the
incident report.
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Some comments suggested requiring some form of independent or
additional verification of the reported information.\18\ NHTSA does not
believe this is necessary at this time. Imposing new pre-market
hardware or software design standards--such as real-time, third-party
verification gates or cryptographic audit ledgers--falls outside the
scope of an incident reporting framework and the current Paperwork
Reduction Act notice. To the extent that these suggestions are within
the scope of this proceeding, NHTSA reiterates that General Order
reports are only one source of information available to NHTSA for
defect identification; they are not the sole or final source. In
appropriate instances, NHTSA conducts additional investigations into
incidents and does not rely entirely on self-reporting. Moreover, the
General Order was designed to solicit reports soon after crashes
occurred, while the evidence is still fresh. This is why notice under
the General Order is based on allegations of a crash, rather than
verified crashes. Adding a layer of verification of incidents or data
would delay NHTSA receiving important information. Imposing additional
verification requirements would also
[[Page 30794]]
increase the burdens associated with these reports.
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\18\ See, e.g., Comment from Robo Shepherd Inc., NHTSA-2026-
0529-0002 (Mar. 16, 2026); Comment from The Box Commons, NHTSA-2026-
0529-0005 (Apr. 23, 2026).
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One comment raised concerns about potential misrepresentations in
marketing of ADAS technologies.\19\ While NHTSA uses General Order
crash data, among other things, to evaluate whether manufacturers are
adequately designing their systems for foreseeable misuse by consumers,
marketing issues are beyond the scope of this proceeding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ See Comment from PrimeVitas AI, NHTSA-2026-0529-0003 (Mar.
27, 2026).
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Affected public: Vehicle and equipment manufacturers and operators
of ADS or Level 2 ADAS equipped vehicles.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 110 entities.
Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 9,574 responses.
Frequency: Monthly and on occasion.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 19,208 hours.
To estimate the burden associated with this information collection,
NHTSA separated the requirements of the General Order into seven
components: (1) incident reports involving Level 2 ADAS that must be
submitted within five days; (2) updates to incident reports involving
Level 2 ADAS that must be submitted in the following month; (3)
incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted within five days;
(4) updates to incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted in
the following month; (5) initial incident reports involving ADS that
must be submitted in the following month; (6) training employees on the
requirements; and (7) time to set up an account to submit the reports.
The burden associated with categories (6) and (7) are one-time start-up
burdens that will be incurred during the proposed extension only for
new reporting entities that were added to the General Order during this
period. For the approximately 114 reporting entities named in the
previous General Order, this burden has already been and was accounted
for under the previously approved information collection request.
The estimated number of respondents consists of the number of
reporting entities. NHTSA estimates that there will be an average of
110 reporting entities during each year of the proposed extension.
Currently, there are 106 reporting entities named in the General Order.
NHTSA believes that additional reporting entities may be added to the
General Order during the proposed extension as new companies enter the
market and begin developing and manufacturing ADS and ADAS technology
and vehicles equipped with these technologies. NHTSA also believes that
some existing reporting entities may be removed from the General Order
due to the cessation of operations or market consolidation.
Incident reports involving Level 2 ADAS that must be submitted
within five days. To estimate the burden associated with submitting
Level 2 ADAS crash reports, NHTSA first looked to the category of
crashes that must be reported. As explained above, the General Order
only requires reporting of Level 2 ADAS crashes when (1) the crash
occurred on a publicly accessible road in the United States (including
any of its territories); (2) the Level 2 ADAS was engaged at any time
during the period from 30 seconds immediately prior to the commencement
of the crash through the conclusion of the crash; and (3) the crash
resulted in any individual being transported to a hospital for medical
treatment, a fatality, an air bag deployment, or the strike of a
vulnerable road user.\20\ These crashes must be reported within five
days. Based on the number of manufacturers that manufacture vehicles
equipped with Level 2 ADAS systems in calendar year 2025, NHTSA
estimates that it will receive responses from approximately 43
respondents reporting Level 2 ADAS crashes each year. Further, after
evaluating information available to the agency regarding the number of
Level 2 ADAS crashes and the number of vehicles equipped with Level 2
ADAS, NHTSA estimates that it will receive, on average, 3,704 Level 2
ADAS related crash reports each year. This estimate includes
projections based on amended reporting criteria and increasing market
penetration and consumer acceptance of partial automation technologies.
NHTSA believed this was a high-end estimate that could be refined
further after seeking public comment. With the benefit of additional
reporting history and data now, NHTSA's estimate is consistent with the
number of Level 2 ADAS reports it has received under the revised
requirements. NHTSA expects that the number of crash reports submitted
by each respondent will vary significantly, with some respondents
submitting many more reports than others. However, on average, NHTSA
estimates that each respondent will submit, on average, 86 crash
reports per year. NHTSA estimates that it will take respondents
approximately 2 hours to compile and submit each crash report
(Engineer: 1 hour; Engineering Manager: 20 minutes; Lawyer: 20 minutes;
and Computer and Information Manager: 20 minutes). Therefore, NHTSA
estimates the total annual burden hours for submitting Level 2 ADAS
crash reports to be approximately 172 hours per respondent (2 hours x
86 crash reports) and approximately 7,396 hours for all respondents
(172 hours x 43 respondents).
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\20\ A ``vulnerable road user'' is defined in the General Order
to mean and include ``any person who is not an occupant of a motor
vehicle with more than three wheels. This definition includes, but
is not limited to, pedestrians, persons traveling in wheelchairs,
bicyclists, motorcyclists, and riders or occupants of other
transport vehicles that are not motor vehicles, such as all-terrain
vehicles and tractors.''
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Updates to incident reports involving Level 2 ADAS that must be
submitted in the following month. In addition to submitting information
on certain Level 2 ADAS crashes within five days, reporting entities
must also submit updated information, if any, by the fifteenth day in
the following month. Based on NHTSA's experience with reports submitted
so far, NHTSA estimates that for 9% of Level 2 ADAS crashes first
reported in a five-day report, respondents may need to submit updated
information. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that approximately 333 monthly
reports will include updated crash information (3,704 Level 2 ADAS
five-day crashes x 9%) or approximately eight updated crash reports for
each of the 43 Level 2 ADAS respondents. NHTSA estimates that updating
the updated crash reports will take approximately 2 hours per report.
Therefore, NHTSA estimates that it will take each Level 2 ADAS
respondent approximately 16 hours each year to submit Level 2 ADAS
crash reports updates (2 hours x 8 crash reports) and approximately 688
hours for all Level 2 ADAS respondents (16 hours x 43 respondents).
Incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted within five
days. To estimate the number of five-day ADS crash reports, NHTSA first
looked to the category of crashes that must be reported. The
requirements for when ADS crashes must be reported within five days are
nearly the same as for Level 2 ADAS crashes, except ADS crashes
involving a vehicle tow away are required to be reported. This
difference accounts for the greater degree of oversight warranted for
ADS-equipped vehicles, which allow the vehicle automation systems more
extensive control authority over the Dynamic Driving Task (DDT). The
General Order requires reporting ADS crashes when (1) the crash
occurred on a publicly accessible road in the United States (including
any of its territories); (2) the ADS was engaged at any time
[[Page 30795]]
during the period from 30 seconds immediately prior to the commencement
of the crash through the conclusion of the crash; and (3) the crash
resulted in any individual being transported to a hospital for medical
treatment, a fatality, an air bag deployment, vehicle tow away, or the
strike of a vulnerable road user. These crashes must be reported within
five days. Based on these criteria and crash reports submitted in prior
versions of the General Order, NHTSA estimates that it will receive
responses from 67 respondents reporting ADS crashes each year and
expects that there will be approximately 5,425 ADS crashes in a year
that manufacturers and operators will be required to report to NHTSA.
Some of these crashes will be required to be submitted within five
days, and the rest will be required to be submitted in the following
month in a monthly report.
Based on NHTSA's review of crash reports already received under all
versions of the General Order, NHTSA estimates that 2,810 ADS crash
reports a year will be submitted within five days, or approximately 42
crash reports from each of the 67 respondents. NHTSA estimates that
each ADS crash report will take 2 hours to complete and submit
(Engineer: 1 hour; Engineering Manager: 20 minutes; Lawyer: 20 minutes;
and Computer and Information Manager: 20 minutes). Therefore, NHTSA
estimates the burden per respondent to be approximately 84 hours (42
crash reports x 2 hours) and approximately 5,628 hours for all
respondents (84 hours x 67 respondents).
Updates to incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted in
the following month. In addition to submitting information on certain
ADS crashes within five days, manufacturers and operators must also
submit updated information, if any, by the fifteenth day of the
following month. NHTSA estimates that for 4% of ADS crashes first
reported in a five-day report, respondents may need to submit updated
information. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that approximately 112 monthly
reports will include updated crash information (2,810 ADS five-day
crashes x 4%), or approximately 2 reports from each of the 67
respondents. ADS typically utilize multiple sensors and cameras and
tend to have relatively advanced data recording and telemetry
capabilities. As a result, crashes involving vehicles where the ADS is
performing the DDT can generally be reported with detail. NHTSA
estimates that updating the crash reports will take approximately 2
hours per report. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that it will take each
respondent approximately 4 hours each year to submit updated ADS crash
reports (2 hours x 2 crash reports) and approximately 268 hours for all
ADS respondents (4 hours x 67 respondents).
Initial incident reports involving ADS that must be submitted in
the following month. This information collection requires ADS
manufacturers and operators to submit reports of certain incidents--
reportable incidents that do not meet any of the criteria for a five-
day report--by the fifteenth day of the following month. To estimate
the burden of these monthly reports, NHTSA considered the burden of
reports of initial ADS crash reports that it has already received.
NHTSA estimates there will be 67 ADS vehicle manufacturers and
operators that will be required to submit monthly reports each year,
for a total of approximately 2,615 monthly reports annually or
approximately 39 reports per respondent.
NHTSA estimates that each monthly report submitted by an ADS
manufacturer or operator will take 2 hours to submit. NHTSA estimates
that there will be at least 67 ADS manufacturers and operators with
some manufacturers producing both ADAS and ADS equipped vehicles.
Therefore, NHTSA estimates that respondents will spend approximately
5,226 hours annually preparing and submitting monthly reports (67 ADS
manufacturers and operators x 39 monthly reports x 2 hours).
Training employees on the requirements. In addition to the burden
associated with preparing and submitting reports, any new reporting
entities added to the General Order may also need to train employees on
the reporting requirements. As explained above, the existing 106
reporting entities named in the General Order will not incur this
burden during the requested extension. NHTSA estimates that there will
be an average of 4 new reporting entities added to the General Order
each year during the proposed extension, that an average of 4 of these
new reporting entities will be ADS manufacturers or operators and that
an average of 0 of these new reporting entities will be Level 2 ADAS
manufacturers. However, NHTSA expects that ADS manufacturers and
operators normally monitor all crashes and, therefore, will not need to
train personnel on how to respond to this new information collection.
Accordingly, NHTSA does not believe this category will measurably
increase the burden.
Time to set up an account to submit the reports. NHTSA also
estimates that new responding entities added to the General Order
during the proposed extension period will need to set up a new account
with NHTSA to allow them to submit reports. NHTSA estimates that each
of the estimated average of 4 responding entities added to the General
Order annually need to set up new accounts with NHTSA. NHTSA estimates
that setting up an account will take 0.5 hours. Therefore, NHTSA
estimates the total annual burden to be 2 hours.
NHTSA estimates the total annual burden hours for the seven
components of this ICR to be 19,208 hours (7,396 hours for initial
five-day Level 2 ADAS reports, 688 hours for updated Level 2 ADAS
reports, 5,628 hours for initial five-day ADS reports, 268 hours for
updated ADS reports, 5,226 hours for initial ADS monthly reports, 0
hours for training, and 2 hours for setting up new accounts), a
reduction from the 31,319 hours under the previously approved
collection.
To calculate the labor cost associated with preparing and
submitting crash reports and reports, training, and setting up new
accounts, NHTSA looked at wage estimates for the type of personnel
involved with these activities. NHTSA estimates the total labor costs
associated with these burden hours by looking at the average wage for
architectural and engineering managers in the motor vehicle
manufacturing industry (Architectural and Engineering Managers,
Standard Occupational Classification #11-9041), Engineers (17-2000),
Lawyers (23-1011), and Computer and Information System Managers (11-
3021). NHTSA estimates the total labor costs associated with these
burden hours by looking at the seventy-fifth percentile wage for
architectural and engineering managers, computer and information
systems managers, and engineers in the motor vehicle manufacturing
industry and the seventy-fifth percentile wage for lawyers.\21\ The
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that private industry workers'
wages represent 70.2% of total
[[Page 30796]]
labor compensation costs.\22\ Therefore, NHTSA has weighted the wages
accordingly, as shown in Table 1, and, based on the estimates of each
role's time spent per report, calculates the average weighted hourly
wage to be approximately $126.29.
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\21\ See May 2024 National Industry-Specific Occupational
Employment and Wage Estimates, NAICS 336100--Motor Vehicle
Manufacturing, available at <a href="https://www.bls">https://www.bls</a>.gov/oes/current/
naics4_336100.htm; May 2024 National Occupational Employment and
Wage Estimates, available at <a href="https://www.bls">https://www.bls</a>.gov/oes/current/
oes_nat.htm. Note that the seventy-fifth percentile wage for lawyers
and computer and information systems managers were not provided by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics because they are equal to or greater
than $115 per hour. Without additional information, NHTSA used $115
per hour for those wages in its calculations.
\22\ See Table 1. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation by
ownership (June 2025), available at <a href="https://www.bls">https://www.bls</a>./.release/
ecec.t01.htm.
Table 1--Labor Costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated time
Labor category Wage Hourly spent per crash
labor cost report (minutes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Computer and Information System Managers (11-13021) in the Motor $115.00 $163.82 20
Vehicle Manufacturing Industry (75th percentile)..................
Architectural and Engineering Managers (11-9041) in the Motor 104.50 148.86 20
Vehicle Manufacturing Industry (75th percentile)..................
Engineers (17-2000) in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry 65.81 93.75 60
(75th percentile).................................................
Lawyers (23-1011) in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry (75th 115.00 163.82 20
percentile).......................................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accordingly, NHTSA estimates the total labor cost associated with
the estimated 19,208 annual burden hours to be approximately
$2,425,778.32.
Table 2 provides a summary of the estimated burden hours and labor
costs associated with each submission, resulting in a modestly
different estimated annual labor cost due to rounding and excluding the
time spent setting up new accounts.
Table 2--Estimated Burden Hours and Labor Costs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated
Annual average of Average time to Weighted labor cost Estimated
Category of claims incident submissions process each hourly rate per annual labor
report (hours) submission cost
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 2 ADAS 5-day reports, 3,704 2 $126.29 $252.58 $935,556.32
initial.....................
Level 2 ADAS 5-day reports, 333 2 126.29 252.58 84,109.14
monthly update..............
ADS 5-day reports, initial... 2,810 2 126.29 252.58 709,749.80
ADS 5-day reports, monthly 112 2 126.29 252.58 28,288.96
update......................
ADS monthly reports, initial. 2,615 2 126.29 252.58 660,496.70
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................... 9,574 ................. ........... ........... 2,418,200.92
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: NHTSA is not aware of any
additional costs respondents will incur nor does NHTSA have a basis for
estimating any such costs without additional information. NHTSA
believes respondents will be able to comply with requirements by only
incurring labor costs associated with the burden hours.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology; (e) ways in which
the information collection could be further streamlined to reduce even
more burdens while ensuring that crash reporting enables NHTSA to
identify potential defects with ADS and ADAS timely.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Peter Simshauser,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2026-10363 Filed 5-22-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P
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