Florida SB 1616: Local Government Financial Reporting

Bill Text

1616 
Liability of Advanced Driving System Manufacturers and Developers 
2026-01-09T07:10:51Z 
Defining the term “advanced driving system”; providing a limitation on the liability of a manufacturer or developer of an advanced driving system for certain damages, injuries, claims, or losses; authorizing punitive damages only under certain circumstances, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 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, subsidiary, 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 federal motor vehicle safety standard related to 
 51 advanced driving systems; 
 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 when the 
 61 evidence supports a finding that the 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 if 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. 768.1256 conflicts with this 
 75 section, this section prevails. 
 76 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.