NHTSA moved Zoox's driverless conditions onto SAE's new J3016 and added a ninth area

NHTSA issued Zoox a third Operational Authorization for its robotaxi on October 6, and the letter reached the public docket on October 7. The authorization says it modifies a single condition of the general exemption NHTSA granted on July 28, adding an operating area in Hayward, California, as requested by Zoox on September 14. Set against the August 31 authorization it also narrows a footnote under the remote-assistance condition, which it does not announce.

The vehicles may now run in nine areas: Clark County, Nevada; San Francisco; Foster City; Miami; Austin; Atlanta; Los Angeles; parts of Los Angeles County; and the Hayward area. In each, operation is limited to roads posted at 45 mph or less on which Zoox has completed what the document calls its Safety Clearance process. The phased fleet limits — 600 vehicles, rising to 1,000 on request and beyond that only by formal amendment — were unchanged from the previous authorization.

The definitions clause moved. Where the August 31 authorization took its terms from SAE J3016 as published in April 2021, this one cites the revision published in September 2026, and the defined term changed with it: the earlier letter reads “minimal risk condition,” this one “mitigated risk condition.” Both documents still use the older phrase at Condition 19, in the list of events Zoox must report monthly.

Those reporting conditions are where the software sits. Zoox has ten business days to notify NHTSA after deploying a milestone release to public-serving vehicles, with release notes covering software and hardware changes to the vehicles and to the remote operation systems. Its monthly report must carry the ADS software version in force at each recorded event, and its mileage report must separate miles driven while testing a milestone release. A footnote defines Safety Clearance as Zoox’s own validation process, which produces a milestone release and is required before operations expand into a new city.