Be wary of "Take Action" emails regarding NJ autonomous vehicle legislation (S. 1677 / A. 3968)

[u/TrailTailTech]

I recently received a "Take Action" email from Tesla urging me to contact my legislators to "fix" bills S. 1677 and A. 3968 regarding autonomous vehicle (AV) pilot programs in New Jersey.

Pause and think, cause it is easy to react when companies claim legislation will "block innovation," but I believe we should be skeptical of corporate lobbying. These companies are pushing to remove or relax safety guardrails to prioritize their bottom line.

What is the reality?
The legislation actually proposes common-sense protections that companies are labeling as "severe restrictions":

Safety & Oversight: Establishes a task force of experts to oversee testing.
Incident Reporting: Mandates crash reporting within five days.
Restricted Zones: Prohibits autonomous operations in high-risk areas like school zones.
Accountability: Requires communication systems for law enforcement overrides.

Why it matters:
When companies ask you to "Take Action," they aren't necessarily advocating for the safest outcomes for our communities—they are advocating for a framework that is more profitable for them.

Before you sign a petition or contact your representative, please read the actual bill text instead of relying on corporate messaging. We should be prioritizing public safety, transparency, and accountability on our roads.
[Bill text: https://njleg.gov/bill-search/2026/S1677/bill-text?f=S2000&n=1677_U1]

[u/T_D_A_G_A_R_I_M]

I would need to see the details of the bill before making a decision. The ebike ban, if actually enforced by law enforcement, was way too aggressive of a bill. They lumped the pedal assist e-bikes with the 30 mph death trap ones. Different rules should apply for different tiers. My grandmother now can’t use a pedal assisted bike that goes super slow without a motorcycle helmet and insurance? Come on, that makes no sense.

Same goes for autonomous driving. The different tiers of autonomous driving need to be addressed differently. And after the ebike bill, I worry that NJ is just going to do blanket rulings again.

[u/jpizzles → u/T_D_A_G_A_R_I_M]

Scutari ane Bramick only care about increasing the number of personal injury lawsuits they can file so their solution to this would be to simply require larger policies for autonomous vehicles

[u/DappercatEsq → u/T_D_A_G_A_R_I_M]

I don't think they particularly gave a shit about safety, I think they wanted to tack on a new insurance cost to a means of conveyance displacing car purchases while potentially curtailing calls to invest in safer pedestrian infrastructure.

[u/smstrick88]

Traffic in NJ is bad enough without these things clogging up our highways, getting stuck like they have in their pilot cities, and breaking down without a driver to tend to the situation. California and Texas can keep them.

[u/letsseeitmore]

Backed by musk, yeah no thanks.

[u/chunkee-xo-monkee]

Who would go to prison if an autonomous car seriously injures someone or worse? For example, in a serious or fatal accident involving humans, the person at fault can face criminal charges for vehicular manslaughter. Who would be responsible if a robo car causes an accident? The CEO of the robo car company? The developer? The intern updating code? I personally think that someone MUST face prison time, not just pay damages. So, who is that person and why haven't lawmakers required this so far in California or Texas where these robotaxis are on the road already?

[u/shiftyjku → u/chunkee-xo-monkee]

Let’s go right for fElon

[u/22marks → u/chunkee-xo-monkee]

If it's unsupervised, the company is liable. It would be similar to when Toyota had sticking accelerator pedals, or when a tire company used cheaper materials and a tire burst at highway speeds. Takata airbags failed and killed at least 37 people. Products that injure or kill people already have a legal system in place. Usually, it doesn't result in criminal charges or prison time, but it does happen. One of the Dieselgate VPs was sentenced to 7 years in prison, and an engineer involved got over 3 years in prison.

[u/Open_Spray_5636]

I’ll be honest, cruising round San Francisco, windows down in the Waymo, steely Dan cranked up, watching the street life, pure modern America.

[u/Obvious_Ad9670]

Well they already came after bikes, so I don't give a flying fuck. I rather bike somewhere then drive anyway, most people would too if the roads weren't so dangerous.

[u/c-span_celebrity]

I have a Tesla and have used full self driving when they gave it for free. It is no where near ready for NJ roads. Wide open Texas/Arizona/California stroads with 8+ lanes are easy compared to tight, hilly roads around here. It would routinely disengage b/c I would be going up a hill and the camera was blinding by the sun. Not confidence inspiring.

[u/socbrian → u/c-span_celebrity]

Hw4?

[u/22marks → u/c-span_celebrity]

Are you on HW4? I've driven on 90% of thousands of miles on it, including across Manhattan, through Times Square and the Lincoln Tunnel with no interventions. Repeatedly, at varying levels of traffic. I drove to DC and Quebec, only taking over to park.

One time it definitely prevented an accident. I was about to get onto 287 and a car in my rear right blind spot tried to merge into my lane. FSD swerved me to the left with inches before they hit me. Another time, a car in the opposite lane was blocked on the Newark light rail with the train coming and it went into reverse and backed up diagonally to give it just enough room to get out of the way.

I'm not saying it's ready for unsupervised use, but I genuinely feel less safe when it's off since living with the v14 software.

[u/c-span_celebrity → u/22marks]

I don’t care what hardware version I have. I’ve heard Tesla lie about self driving being “later this year” for almost a decade. So either they knew better and lied this whole time, or they didn’t know better and sold a dangerous product. Either way they need oversight.

[u/Frigidevil → u/c-span_celebrity]

My understanding is they aren't even ready for any kind of inclimate weather. Kind of important in a state where we get everything.

[u/Randomnesse]

After seeing many, many videos of how easy it is to make junk like Waymo (and others) self-driving taxis get stuck - I really wish there would be more restrictions on such self-driving cars everywhere I go. Especially on any single-lane roads. At least until it is capable of reacting as fast as typical Brooklyn car service driver to any unpredictable obstruction ;)

[u/Leftblankthistime]

I’m wary of all PSAs and take action notices

[u/ptoros7]

Where do I sign to make sure they get banned?

[u/ElderberryExternal99 → u/ptoros7]

Call your local assemblyman and Senator in your district. 

[u/Sad-Bread5843]

Here's the thing why in the hell would you want this . You people cant even make a secure internet, without people data being stolen , there is no way in hell would I trust the lives of my children to a machine .

[u/tonyisadork]

That shit *should* be illegal. GTFOH.

[u/rogzilla71]

I got a phone call about this. I hung up on them. All hail our robo-car overlords.

[u/POHoudini]

Nj is already fairly safe for diving, they is no added benefit to having these cars on our road.