NHTSA Wants Up to 8 Cyan Lights on Robotaxis Like Tesla’s Cybercab

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wants to rewrite parts of the federal lighting standard for cars with no steering wheel or pedals, and it would let self-driving vehicles carry optional cyan lights that tell everyone nearby the car is driving itself. NHTSA laid out the plan in a proposed rule set for publication in the Federal Register on Monday, October 26, days after Tesla’s first reported Cybercab crash came to light.

At issue is Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, which covers lamps, reflective devices and related equipment, and which was written for human drivers. Turn signals on most passenger vehicles must cancel themselves when the steering wheel turns and must also be cancelable by hand, while the high beam switch has to work with “a simple movement of the driver’s hand or foot.”

Under the new wording, those manual control rules would only apply to vehicles with manually operated driving controls. Driverless vehicles would still need a way to run their turn signals, hazard lights and high beams, but that system could be automated. NHTSA would also limit some dashboard telltale requirements for turn signals and high beams to vehicles with manual controls, and drop the word “driver” from the definition of the hazard warning switch.

NHTSA explained that an automated driving system “cannot forget that the turn signals are active,” so self-canceling serves no safety purpose in a car the software steers. It doesn’t expect the changes to add costs and called the rule deregulatory, though it hasn’t put a dollar figure on the savings.

The cyan marker lamps would be optional, but any automaker that installs them would have to follow one standard: one or two lamps each on the front, sides and rear, mounted at least 15 inches off the ground, steady burning rather than flashing, and switched on only when nobody is expected to watch the road. The color is the blue-green cyan defined in the SAE J578 standard, picked partly because it looks different from police blue. NHTSA said the lamps would make it clear “that cyan lights mean a vehicle is being operated without the expectation that a human occupant is monitoring the roadway.”

To back the cyan lamps, NHTSA pointed to an updated SAE marker lamp standard, work at the United Nations, and Mercedes-Benz, which met with the agency and argued that a 360-degree view of cyan lamps would help police and other road users without causing confusion. Mercedes-Benz also tested the lamps on five vehicles in California from 2023 to 2025, and California already allows them under state law.

Tesla isn’t named in the proposal, but the changes line up closely with the Cybercab, which has no steering wheel or pedals. Tesla has said the Cybercab meets federal standards on its own and won’t need an exemption capped at 2,500 vehicles a year, as we reported when Tesla explained how it would mass produce its robotaxi. NHTSA is auditing that claim and gave Tesla until October 30 to deliver sworn answers on how the Cybercab was certified. The agency noted that without changes like these, makers of such vehicles would likely keep seeking exemptions.

Regular cars get two tweaks as well. Integral beam headlamps would be tested at the voltage the manufacturer marks on them instead of a fixed 12.8 volts, and automakers would no longer have to place the low beam above the high beam in vertical headlamp setups.

Comments will be open for 30 days after publication. The proposal follows NHTSA plans earlier this year to update rules on transmission shifting, wipers and defrosters, and tire information for vehicles without manual controls, as Tesla works on speeding up its Cybercab line in Texas.

Would cyan lights on a robotaxi make you more comfortable sharing the road with one, or should they stay optional?