D.C.’s Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026 has room for improvement

A version of the following testimony was presented before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment in its hearing on Bill 26-284, the Autonomous Vehicle Deployment Authorization Amendment Act of 2026.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer our organization’s perspective on Bill 26-684. My name is Marc Scribner, and I serve as senior transportation policy analyst at Reason Foundation. Reason Foundation is headquartered in Los Angeles and maintains offices in D.C. Since 1978, we have provided pro bono consulting to public officials and stakeholders to help them design and implement policies related to transportation and infrastructure, including autonomous vehicles and mileage-based user fees.

I have been conducting research on the law and policy related to driving automation for more than 15 years and currently serve as a member of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies’ Standing Technical Committee on Developments and Advancements in Transportation Technology Law. On a personal note, I have been a District resident since 2005 and took my first ride in an autonomous vehicle prototype in downtown D.C. in May 2012.

Reason Foundation has also been conducting research on distance-based road usage charging for decades and is a founding member of the Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance. Members of Reason Foundation’s transportation policy team have served on various consensus study committees, testified before Congress and state legislatures, and advised lawmakers and regulators around the country on how to design and implement mileage-based user fee systems. As a D.C. resident, I recently participated as a volunteer in the latest Mileage-Based User Fee Pilot conducted by The Eastern Transportation Coalition, of which the District Department of Transportation is a member agency.

We share the goal of ensuring the safe operation of vehicles equipped with automated driving system on public roads. However, we believe Bill 26-684 could be improved. My testimony focuses on the proposed vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) tax on commercial AV permit holders at Sec. 2(g) (p. 18, lines 404–409).

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