---
type: "Bill"
title: "Motor Vehicles; autonomous vehicles from certain vehicle equipment requirements; exempt"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 8 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to equipment and inspection of motor vehicles, so as to exempt fully autonomous vehicles from certain vehicle equipment requirements; to provide for compliance; to remove requirement for use of strobe light while operating a low-speed vehicle; to provide for means of operation of vehicle brakes and parking brakes; to revise exhaust system requirements; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2021_22"
identifier: "SB 165"
citation: "Georgia SB 165 (2021_22)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ben Watson", "Brandon Beach", "Burt Jones", "Butch Miller", "Frank Ginn", "Greg Dolezal", "Jeff Mullis", "Kay Kirkpatrick", "Steve Gooch"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 19
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-11"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a2533949-9fc6-47fe-a88c-055ab90c19eb"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "2045301515beaffcc5309fff573184c85fd981bd0afb67b401fea5cbb6de4ee2"
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-ga"]
---

# Georgia SB 165 (2021_22) — Motor Vehicles; autonomous vehicles from certain vehicle equipment requirements; exempt

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 8 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to equipment and inspection of motor vehicles, so as to exempt fully autonomous vehicles from certain vehicle equipment requirements; to provide for compliance; to remove requirement for use of strobe light while operating a low-speed vehicle; to provide for means of operation of vehicle brakes and parking brakes; to revise exhaust system requirements; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **As introduced LC 39 2820** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/197510.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/199707.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 39 2937S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/198906.pdf)
4. **Floor Amendment AM 43 0198** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201172.pdf)
5. **Floor amend 1 AM 39 0321** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202121.pdf)
6. **LC 39 3036S/hss** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/200618.pdf)
7. **SB 165/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/202508.pdf)
8. **SB 165/HCSFA** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20212022/201173.pdf)

## Votes

- MOTION TO TABLE ALL BILLS ON THE RULES CALENDAR — **32–17** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ben Watson — primary (person)
- Brandon Beach — primary (person)
- Burt Jones — primary (person)
- Butch Miller — primary (person)
- Frank Ginn — primary (person)
- Greg Dolezal — primary (person)
- Jeff Mullis — primary (person)
- Kay Kirkpatrick — primary (person)
- Steve Gooch — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-11** Senate Hopper
- **2021-02-16** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2021-02-26** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-01** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-05** Senate Tabled
- **2021-03-05** Senate Taken from Table
- **2021-03-05** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2021-03-05** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-08** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2021-03-09** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2021-03-17** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-25** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2021-03-25** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2021-03-31** Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub As Amended
- **2021-03-31** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2021-04-07** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-04** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-05-04** Act 214 `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a2533949-9fc6-47fe-a88c-055ab90c19eb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).