A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration waiver that lets autonomous trucks use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of reflective triangles or flares expires at 11:59 p.m. Oct. 9 — and by its own terms, it will almost certainly come back the next day.

The waiver's terms and conditions state that absent a violation, a safety notification from a carrier or an FMCSA finding of a safety deficiency, "this waiver will be reissued." That clause appears in all four three-month waivers FMCSA has granted to Aurora since October 2025, and each new waiver has taken effect the day after the last one expired.

An Illinois cargo van operator wants the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to break that cycle. Kostas Giannoulias, representing himself, asked the court to stay the current waiver and bar any successor while his case proceeds. In a Sept. 21 response, Justice Department lawyers for FMCSA noted the waiver "expires in less than 18 days" and argued he has not shown he would be harmed before then. The response does not mention the reissue clause.

Giannoulias pressed the point in a Sept. 22 reply. "The order's promised reissuance also defeats FMCSA's suggestion that only eighteen days matter," he wrote. The court had not ruled on the motion as of Oct. 2.

Who runs under the waiver

The waiver covers Aurora and any carrier operating Level 4 automated trucks that notifies FMCSA and certifies it will follow the terms. Three carriers besides Aurora have opted in: Kodiak Robotics, Waabi Logistics and Stack AV, which joined after the July waiver was issued. Kodiak had deployed 20 driverless trucks as of March 10, while Waabi and Stack AV had deployed none as of July 31, according to the government's response.

Counting Aurora and Kodiak, "there would only be approximately 45 self-driving trucks operating under the waiver," DOJ attorneys wrote, against more than 3,000 miles of interstate highway in Texas. "Giannoulias's chances of actually encountering a truck covered by the waiver are vanishingly small."

Giannoulias hauls spot-market freight in a 2024 Ram ProMaster 2500 and said in a declaration that he made at least six trips in July and August involving Dallas, Houston, Austin, Laredo and El Paso — several of them on Aurora's driverless routes.

For carriers, the stakes scale quickly. Aurora told FMCSA in its pending exemption request that it expects more than 200 Level 4 trucks by the end of 2026. FMCSA denied a five-year exemption sought by Aurora and Waymo in December 2024; Aurora sued in the D.C. Circuit in January 2025 and dropped the case when the first waiver arrived. Aurora filed a fresh five-year exemption request in April, with the comment period closing May 15. The request remains pending.

The numbers fight

DOJ argued nothing in the statute bars back-to-back waivers, citing two COVID-era FMCSA waivers each issued seven consecutive times. It pointed to the July waiver's finding that differences in driver response to beacons and triangles at straight locations in Aurora's study were "less than four-tenths of one percent," and said no crashes involving a beacon-activated truck have been reported since the waivers began.

Giannoulias countered that the 45-truck figure counts only publicized driverless deployments, while the waiver covers Level 4 trucks whether or not a human is aboard. Aurora told FMCSA it has 109 Class 8 trucks; the reply said most carry the Aurora Driver and beacons. Aurora's naturalistic study found a 44.48% response rate to beacons and 44.06% to triangles. "A failure to reject equality is not an affirmative equivalence test," he wrote.

The reply also points to a July 8 crash near Aledo, Texas, where an Aurora truck on a development mission collided with a pickup that ran a red light. Aurora's report to NHTSA lists the automated driving system as "Verified Engaged," but its narrative says the operator disengaged autonomy approximately 12 seconds before the collision. The Texas officer's report lists no automation engaged and cites the pickup driver, who was ticketed. No injuries were reported.

Giannoulias attached social media screenshots from the scene showing no visible beacon on the disabled truck, arguing the waiver's 10-minute activation requirement applied once the truck stopped. The reply conceded that "still photographs record instants rather than a full flash cycle." FMCSA's response does not address the crash.

He asked the court for an immediate stay, a bar on new opt-ins and successor waivers, and production of the administrative record. "Without relief, the agency can expire one letter, issue the next, and repeat the jurisdictional argument indefinitely," the reply said. With the waiver set to lapse Oct. 9 and the reissue clause still standing, the quarterly renewal cycle looks set to continue unless the 7th Circuit intervenes — while Aurora's longer-term fix, the pending five-year exemption, sits with FMCSA.