Read the full stored bill text
Florida Senate
-
2026
SB 1616
By
Senator Leek
7-00352-26 20261616__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to liability of advanced driving
3 system manufacturers and developers; creating s.
4 768.1258, F.S.; providing legislative intent; defining
5 the term “advanced driving system”; providing a
6 limitation on the liability of a manufacturer or
7 developer of an advanced driving system for certain
8 damages, injuries, claims, or losses; providing
9 exceptions to such limitation on liability;
10 authorizing punitive damages only under certain
11 circumstances; prohibiting a plaintiff from recovering
12 punitive damages under certain circumstances;
13 providing construction; providing an effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Section 768.1258, Florida Statutes, is created
18 to read:
19
768
.
1258
Liability of advanced driving system manufacturers
20
and developers
.—
21
(1) It is the intent of the Legislature to promote
22
innovative conduct and the safe deployment of advanced driving
23
systems while providing reasonable certainty in the allocation
24
of liability.
25
(2) As used in this section, the term “advanced driving
26
system” means
any software, device, or integrated hardware
27
software combination that, when engaged or deployed, is capable
28
of performing specific driving tasks or functions without human
29
intervention, with or without a human driver or human
30
supervision, for at least part of its system operation
, and that
31
is
equipped on a motor vehicle
that is
permitted, registered,
32
licensed, certified,
or
authorized,
and not
otherwise
33
prohibited
,
for use or operation in
this state
. The term
34
includes, but is not limited to, advanced driver
assistance
35
systems
as defined in s.
559.903
, automated driving systems as
36
defined in s. 316.003, and vehicle systems defined as Level 2 or
37
greater under SAE International’s J3016
standard.
38
(3)
A manufacturer or developer of an advanced driving
39
system
,
or
any affiliate, subsidiar
y
,
or
employee
thereof
,
is
40
not
liable for any damages, injuries, claims
,
or losses alleged
41
to have arisen from,
or
in relation to, the design, failure to
42
warn, or performance of the
advanced driving system
under
43
theories of strict product liability, negligence,
44
misrepresentation, breach of warranty, or breach of contract,
45
unless a plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence
that
:
46
(a)
The plaintiff’s harm directly arose from a known
47
manufacturing defect in a hardware component contained within
48
the
advanced driving system;
49
(b)
The
advanced driving system
failed to comply with an
50
applicable
f
ederal
m
otor
v
ehicle
s
afety
s
tandard related to
51
advanced driving system
s;
52
(c)
At the time of the alleged incident, the
advanced
53
driving system
was operating outside its intended operational
54
design domain, if applicable. For purposes of this section,
55
operational design domains do not apply to Level 1 or 2 vehicles
56
as defined by SAE
International’s
J3016
standard
; or
57
(d)
The manufacturer or developer engaged in fraud or
58
intentional concealment of a known defect that presented an
59
unreasonable risk to the safety of the plaintiff.
60
(
4
)
(a)
Punitive damages are permitted
only
whe
n
the
61
evidence supports a finding
that t
he manufacturer or developer
62
engaged in fraud or intentional concealment of a known defect
63
that presented an unreasonable risk to the safety of the
64
plaintiff
.
65
(b) A plaintiff may not recover an award of punitive
66
damages i
f
the
manufacturer or developer establishes that the
67
design of its advanced driving system complied with the state of
68
the art of scientific and technical knowledge that existed at
69
the time of manufacture
in accordance with
s. 768.1257
.
70
(5) This section does not
limit
any
claim based on breach
71
of warranty, express statutory duties, or independent acts of
72
negligence
that are unrelated to the design, manufacture,
73
failure to warn, or performance of an advanced driving system.
74
(6)
To the extent that s. 7
68
.1256 conflicts with this
75
section, this section prevails.
76 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.