Federal agencies · FMCSA-2026-0958 · Agency exemption

FMCSA grants five-year warning-beacon exemption for Level 4 trucks

Exemption in effectRecorded action: October 7, 2026

An Embark autonomous Peterbilt truck with roof-mounted sensors on display in 2018. — Related archive photo: an Embark autonomous truck displayed in 2018, not an Aurora truck or a demonstration of the newly authorized warning beacons. Image: Oregon Department of Transportation / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · 4032 × 3024 · Downsampled where needed to 4K or larger and WebP optimized; smaller card preview. No upscaling.

What happened

FMCSA granted a limited five-year exemption effective October 7, 2026, and published the final disposition on October 9. The exemption expires October 7, 2031, unless it is revoked earlier under its terms.

What the exemption permits

Aurora and other motor carriers that give FMCSA prior written notice may use qualifying cab-mounted warning beacons on Level 4 automated-driving-system commercial vehicles instead of placing traditional warning triangles or fusees around a stopped truck. The exemption also covers the related steady-burning-lamp rule and includes operating, equipment, crash-reporting, and annual-reporting conditions.

This is a final agency disposition granting a conditional exemption, not a final rule or blanket authorization to operate autonomous trucks. Carriers must meet every exemption condition and remain subject to federal requirements that FMCSA did not exempt.

Verified October 27, 2026. This is a RobotMe summary of the official record; it is not legal advice.