A federal proposal would give self-driving cars a standard cyan light, so you can tell at a glance when a robot is driving the car next to you or the one you hail.
Self-driving cars could soon carry a light that tells everyone nearby a robot is at the wheel. Under a new proposal for federal rules on automated vehicles, that light would be cyan, a bright blue-green. Robotaxis and other self-driving cars would use it.
The proposal would make cyan the standard color for automated driving system marker lamps. A marker lamp is a small light on the outside of a vehicle. The idea is one color, used nationwide, so a cyan light means the same thing on every self-driving car. The color is part of a wider set of federal requirements for self-driving cars, announced along with other standards.
Anyone who shares the road with robotaxis could benefit: drivers, cyclists and people on foot. If you hail a taxi, you could tell at a glance whether a machine is driving. Companies that build self-driving cars would be the ones expected to follow the standard.
This is a proposal, not a final rule. The available material does not say when it could take effect, which companies would have to comply, or what the other announced standards cover. Details could change before anything becomes official.
A cyan light may soon be the nationwide sign that a car is driving itself, but it is only a proposal for now.
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