What EV fans on X are discussing: NHTSA's proposal to allow optional cyan ADS marker lamps

NHTSA has proposed optional cyan marker lamps for automated vehicles, and it has not issued a final rule. The notice, 91 FR 67243, is dated 26 October 2026 in Federal Register Volume 91, Number 205, pages 67243–67261, document 2026-21794, docket NHTSA-2026-1519, RIN 2127-AM70. Comments are due no later than 25 November 2026. This desk opened the text on 25 October. If finalized, it would amend FMVSS No. 108, the lighting standard.

The lamps would be optional. NHTSA says it does not have enough evidence to require one on every automated vehicle, so the rule would apply only when a manufacturer fits them, and it would bar them on a vehicle with no automated driving system. A fitted lamp would be steady-burning cyan, the blue-green in SAE J578, following SAE J3134: one or two on the front, the sides, and the rear, so four to eight lamps, at least 15 inches off the ground. NHTSA's 23 October release matches that description, sets a 30-day comment period on the same docket after publication, and says manual turn-signal, hazard, and beam controls would be narrowed for vehicles driven only by the automated system.

On a vehicle with no steering wheel, the notice says the turn-signal unit would no longer have to cancel when a wheel rotates. NHTSA's reason is that "turn signal activation and cancellation will be programmed within the ADS to comply with traffic laws, and unlike a human driver, the system cannot forget that the turn signals are active."

Readers on X have treated the draft as a Cybercab item. EVwire reported on 23 October that Spencer, posting as @scotsrule08, pointed to Tesla's Cybercab as a vehicle the proposal would cover, and its source line also names Sawyer Merritt on X. This desk did not open those posts. The Verge, the same day, noted a separate NHTSA audit query into how Tesla certified the Cybercab, including the lack of side mirrors, pedals, and a steering wheel. Neither account prints a fleet count, and this story does not add one.

Analysis

The notice is a proposal, with comments due 25 November 2026, thirty days after the 26 October date printed on it. Cyan lamps would be optional. The notice does not find that a named vehicle already complies, and it does not require every automated vehicle to carry them. The Cybercab connection is the reading EVwire attributes to posts on X. The audit query The Verge describes is a separate certification inquiry, not this lighting draft.