DMV

~6,600 noncitizens were improperly registered to vote after a New Jersey DMV software error, widening coverage beyond DMV oversight of autonomous vehicles.

Who they are

DMV refers in this coverage to state motor-vehicle agencies, most prominently California’s regulator of vehicle testing, driverless deployment and automaker marketing claims, while more recent stories also show DMV systems affecting digital identity and voter-registration administration.

The recent arc

The latest coverage has shifted from permits to enforcement and administrative failure. California’s DMV suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless-testing permits in October 2023, while 2025–26 stories center on Tesla: an administrative law judge’s finding of deceptive Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” marketing, Tesla’s agreement to stop using “autopilot” in California, its lawsuit to reverse the DMV ruling, and records showing zero autonomous test miles in California since 2019.

The tension

Coverage repeatedly pits state safety and consumer-protection oversight against companies seeking to commercialize automated driving. Earlier permitting stories linked the DMV to Apple, Google, Uber, Tesla and Waymo; the more recent Tesla dispute and Cruise suspension show the regulator’s role becoming less about opening test access and more about policing what autonomy claims and deployments can proceed.

Why it matters

If this trajectory holds, DMV decisions will remain a practical gatekeeper for both autonomous-vehicle rollouts and the public claims attached to them, even as companies pursue robotaxi programs in states such as Texas. The New Jersey episode also underscores that DMV software and data-handling failures can carry consequences beyond transportation, making agency modernization and controls a broader civic-risk issue.

Related: California · Tesla · Apple · Waymo · the California Department of Motor Vehicles · California's DMV suspends Cruise's deployment and driverless testing p