S. 4429 — Connected Vehicle Security Act of 2026

This section states congressional findings on the national security and economic risks from vehicles and components controlled by foreign adversaries, particularly the People's Republic of China. It notes that China exports nearly 8,000,000 vehicles annually, that connected vehicles collect and transmit sensitive geolocation and personal data, and that such access by adversaries falls within the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13873.

This section defines terms for the Act, including automated driving system, connected vehicle, covered country (North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran), covered software, electric vehicle, vehicle connectivity system, and vehicle connectivity system hardware. It excludes rail-only vehicles from the connected vehicle definition and specifies that resale excludes transfers of previously titled consumer vehicles.

This section prohibits the importation, manufacture, sale, resale, or introduction into interstate commerce of connected vehicles from covered countries or with manufacturers more than 15 percent controlled by such countries, effective January 1, 2027. It prohibits covered software meeting the same origin or 25 percent control criteria effective that date, and connected vehicle hardware effective January 1, 2030, except for repairs or warranties on pre-2030 models. It authorizes the Secretary to prohibit additional threatening transactions and to issue national security authorizations, while exempting testing by qualifying US entities.

This section authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to consult with existing Department of Transportation advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation, on connected vehicle risks related to data security, cybersecurity, supply chain integrity, emerging technologies, and mitigation measures. It also permits coordination with the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies to align prohibitions or restrictions and avoid duplicative or conflicting requirements.

This section directs the Secretary to submit annual reports to Congress, beginning one year after enactment, on enforcement of the prohibitions in section 4. Each report must cover enforcement actions and resources used, an accounting of covered items, any exclusions or exemptions with their rationale, an assessment of effectiveness against economic and national security threats from connected vehicles, metrics on compliance and penalties, and recommendations for further reducing those threats.

This section provides that if any provision of the Act is held invalid, the remainder of the Act remains in effect. It authorizes the Secretary to reissue or reinstate, in whole or in part, regulations in effect before the Act's enactment if a court invalidates provisions that superseded them.

This section preserves the Secretary of Commerce's authority to implement and administer existing regulations on the information and communications technology and services supply chain for connected vehicles. It delays implementation of prohibitions under section 4(a) for covered software and connected vehicle hardware not subject to those regulations until after January 1, 2030, and before January 1, 2032. It maintains prior exclusions and exceptions to the regulations and requires the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking beginning January 1, 2030, to determine whether to continue, modify, or terminate them.