ACES Mobility Coalition's Legislative Priorities 

SAM Act (Shared Autonomous Mobility Act) - H.R. 8692

 

Passing the SAM Act is the ACES Mobility Coalition’s top federal legislative priority.  

 

This commonsense legislation modernizes outdated federal rules that have slowed scalable deployment of shared autonomous mobility and gives local governments and their private-sector partners a clearer path to procure, test, and integrate shared autonomous vehicles into public transportation. Shared autonomous mobility is a critical tool in transportation that can help agencies ease congestion and better connect communities with safe, reliable transit options. 

 

The SAM Act includes several targeted updates designed to remove barriers to procurement, testing, and deployment while maintaining robust safety and oversight standards. Among its key provisions, the legislation would: 

 

1. Amend 5 existing transit and infrastructure grant programs to make software acquisition and licensing for operating or monitoring automated driving systems (ADS) eligible capital expenses. This commonsense modernization recognizes software and digital services as essential components of today’s transit vehicles, including even non-autonomous fleets on the roadway today. The programs include: 

   • SMART (Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation) Grants 

   • Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants

   • Bus and Bus Facilities Grants

   • MEGA (National Infrastructure Project Assistance) Grants

   • BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Grants

2. Provide greater procurement flexibility by allowing transit agencies to receive grants prior to and during bus testing, as long as all required testing is successfully completed before delivery and acceptance. This shortens deployment timelines by letting both agencies and vendor companies begin work during lengthy bus testing without compromising road safety.

3. Require the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to review and modernize existing bus testing regulations to better allow for timely testing of ADS-equipped buses, including those with innovative vehicle designs.

4. Direct U.S. DOT to identify a second bus testing site specifically dedicated to testing autonomous buses.

5. Establish a new $100 million grant program to fund deployments of shared autonomous mobility vehicles by public transportation authorities and local governments. 

 

As the only U.S. organization solely focused on advancing autonomous vehicles to improve public transit, the ACES Mobility Coalition is working with Congress and federal partners to advance this legislation and ensure communities have access to safe, equitable, and innovative mobility solutions.