February 2, 2026
The Honorable Ted Cruz
Chair
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
167 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell:
The National Federation of the Blind is the nation’s transformative membership organization of blind people. We advance opportunity, equality, and independence for our members and all blind Americans. We write to ask the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation to include an urgently needed national autonomous vehicle framework in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act.
You have a truly historic opportunity to expand transportation access for seven million blind and low-vision Americans and millions more with travel-limiting disabilities. The blind community, the autonomous vehicle industry, and the public need congressional leadership to establish a clear federal framework for this pivotal technology.
Many members of the National Federation of the Blind’s state affiliates and local chapters across the country have ridden in SAE Level 4 fully autonomous vehicles, including those functioning with the technology spearheaded by Waymo in the states where the service commercially operates today.
For blind Americans, fully autonomous vehicles can provide a convenient, private, flexible, reliable, and discrimination-free transportation option that supports access to work, education, and community engagement. However, the autonomous vehicle industry needs regulatory certainty and a framework within which to expand. A national autonomous vehicle framework would create a necessary baseline for this technology, ensuring innovation continues to move forward.
Congress faces a watershed moment. The United States must lead globally in autonomous transportation policy rather than allowing other nations to define the future of this technology. We urge the committee to seize this bipartisan opportunity to demonstrate American leadership while expanding transportation access for all.
As you develop this framework, we ask that you explicitly protect the civil rights of blind people by including a provision that prohibits requiring a driver’s license—for any human operator—to hail or use a fully autonomous vehicle. This protection is reflected in the AV Accessibility Act (H.R. 4419), introduced in the United States House of Representatives, and is essential to ensuring that blind people can benefit from this technology on equal terms.
For more than eighty-five years, the National Federation of the Blind has worked collaboratively with Congress to ensure that the lived experience of blind people informs public policy. We are positioned to continue that partnership and eager to work with you to develop a national autonomous vehicle framework that will shape transportation access and independence for generations to come.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Riccobono, President
National Federation of the Blind