Senator Min Zero Emissions Vehicle Bill Advances from Transportation Committee

Senator Min Zero Emissions Vehicle Bill Advances from Transportation Committee

SB 500 mandates all new autonomous vehicles to be zero emission by 2027

SACRAMENTO, CA — Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) today announced his Senate Bill (SB) 500 cleared the Senate Transportation Committee. SB 500 requires all light-duty autonomous vehicles to be zero emission by 2027, in line with the state’s goals to reduce emissions and fight climate change.

“I’m proud my SB 500, which implements a zero emissions requirement for new autonomous vehicles hitting the road in 2027, advanced from the Senate Transportation Committee,” Min said. “California has led the world in both introducing new technology and in fighting climate change, and this legislation will help to ensure that California continues to set the standards in these areas. While we only have a handful of autonomous vehicles on the road today, it won’t be long before these cars and trucks are ubiquitous. SB 500 ensures that as AVs get rolled out into our economy, they are helping rather than hurting our efforts to fight climate change. I thank our sponsors, Union of Concerned Scientists, for their partnership on this bill.”

“[Our research and reports] and others highlight the need to deploy autonomous vehicles as zero emission vehicles in order to mitigate emissions impacts as part of a broader strategy to reduce emissions from transportation,” Elizabeth Irvin, senior transportation analyst for Union of Concerned Scientists, said during witness testimony. “We are moving toward a zero emission transportation system, and emerging technologies like automated vehicles should be leading the way. This bill is consistent with other government actions.”

The hearing also featured Prashanti Raman, Director of Government Affairs at Cruise, a zero-emissions self-driving car service. Raman highlighted that Cruise has had fully zero emissions operations since day one and their vehicles have driven 770,049 clean, autonomous miles in California in 2020.

The final vote count for SB 500 was 12-2.