GoKawiilNHTSA proposes cyan lighting standard to mark driverless autonomous vehicles
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed new lighting rules for autonomous vehicles, suggesting cyan (blue-green) lights to indicate when a vehicle is driving itself with no human monitoring the road. The proposal would standardize where such lights are mounted, require them to stay steadily lit rather than flash, and make them visible from all sides, while also dropping requirements for manual turn signal, high-beam and hazard controls.
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A consistent visual signal could help pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers recognize when a car has no one actively controlling it, which may become more important as robotaxis like Zoox and Tesla's Cybercab expand without traditional driver controls. NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison frames this as part of a broader push to modernize safety standards that were written for human-driven cars, suggesting regulators are trying to balance faster AV adoption with public safety.
- NHTSA's proposal suggests, but does not mandate, cyan lights for autonomous vehicles in driverless mode.
- The rule would also eliminate requirements for manual turn signal, high-beam, and hazard controls.
- It's part of a wider federal effort to rewrite vehicle safety standards for driverless vehicles like Zoox and the Tesla Cybercab.
Source: techcrunch.com — Kirsten Korosec, 2026-10-25
Published there as: “TechCrunch Mobility: Blue-green is the color of autonomy”
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