---
type: "Bill"
title: "Autonomous vehicles: pilot project."
description: "Existing law permits the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes if, among other requirements, a driver is seated in the driver's seat and is capable of taking immediate manual control of the vehicle in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1592"
citation: "California AB 1592 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Autonomous vehicles: pilot project."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bonilla"]
version_count: 10
action_count: 27
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2016-01-06"
last_action: "2016-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/df07a394-2ff0-4291-97b0-74b333d45f1f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592"
source_hash: "65e9706c1d693c80d661e5873f9aade2584f50b74c195ee76deebd79b0f9dd32"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1592 (20152016) — Autonomous vehicles: pilot project.

Existing law permits the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes if, among other requirements, a driver is seated in the driver's seat and is capable of taking immediate manual control of the vehicle in the event of an autonomous technology failure or other emergency.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/06/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159299INT)
2. **03/28/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159298AMD)
3. **06/06/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159297AMD)
4. **06/22/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159296AMD)
5. **08/02/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159295AMD)
6. **08/15/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159294AMD)
7. **08/19/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159293AMD)
8. **09/29/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159291CHP)
9. **AB1592** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592)
10. **08/30/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1592&version=20150AB159292ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1592 Bonilla By Cannella — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1592 BONILLA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **75–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 1592 BONILLA Assembly Third Reading — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **10–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bonilla — primary (person)
- Baker — coauthor (person)
- Nazarian — coauthor (person)
- Obernolte — coauthor (person)
- Travis Allen — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-01-06** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-01-07** From printer. May be heard in committee February 6.
- **2016-02-01** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-10** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2016-03-28** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 4). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 4229.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-07** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-04-28** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-21** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 14). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-06-22** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-23** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5. `referral-committee`
- **2016-08-01** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and be amended. `committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-02** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-15** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5289.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 26 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 3. Page 6338.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-02** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.
- **2016-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 814, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/df07a394-2ff0-4291-97b0-74b333d45f1f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).