The Shared Autonomous Mobility (SAM) Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) on May 7, 2026.

According to the ACES Mobility Coalition, the bill serves as a major step forward in advancing shared autonomous mobility partnerships with public transit agencies across the US. The SAM Act will modernize outdated regulations that have slowed scalable deployment and give local governments and their private sector partners a clearer path to procure, test, and integrate shared autonomous vehicles into public transportation networks.

The Coalition worked with Representative Kiley to craft the bill, which will help usher in a new era of safe community mobility access that helps reduce congestion, improve the transit customer experience, establish American leadership in public transit innovation, and address first-and last-mile challenges."

Joshua Schank, Executive Director of the ACES Mobility Coalition says, "Removing outdated barriers that have limited the deployment of innovative technology partnerships will unlock safer, more efficient, and more reliable transit options for communities and their residents."

Modernizing Federal Programs for Shared Autonomous Mobility

The SAM Act includes several targeted updates designed to remove barriers to procurement, testing, and deployment while maintaining robust safety and oversight standards. Among its key provisions, the legislation would:

1. Amend 5 existing transit and infrastructure grant programs to make software acquisition and licensing for operating or monitoring automated driving systems (ADS) eligible capital expenses. This commonsense modernization recognizes software and digital services as essential components of today's transit vehicles, including non-autonomous fleets on the roadway today. The programs include:

SMART (Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation) Grants

Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants

Bus and Bus Facilities Grants

MEGA (National Infrastructure Project Assistance) Grants

BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) Grants

2. Provide greater procurement flexibility by allowing transit agencies to receive grants prior to and during bus testing, as long as all required testing is successfully completed before delivery and acceptance. This shortens deployment timelines by letting both agencies and vendor companies begin work during lengthy bus testing without compromising road safety.

3. Require the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to review and modernize existing bus testing regulations to better allow for timely testing of ADS-equipped buses, including those with innovative vehicle designs.

4. Direct U.S. DOT to identify a second bus testing site specifically dedicated to testing autonomous buses.

5. Establish a new $100 million grant program to fund deployments of shared autonomous mobility vehicles by public transportation authorities and local governments.

These updates align federal policy with the realities of modern vehicle systems, where software, automation, and purpose-built designs are essential to safe and effective operations and enable more seamless integration into existing public transit systems.