SECTION 1. Section 1 of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Automobile transporter” the following 2 definitions:-

“Autonomous technology,” technology installed on a motor vehicle that has the capability to control the motor vehicle on which the technology is installed, without the active control or monitoring by a human operator; provided, however, that  “autonomous technology” shall not include active safety or driver assistance technology, including, electronic blind spot assistance, crash avoidance, emergency braking, parking assistance, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assistance, lane departure warning, or traffic jam and queuing assistant, unless any of the technology, alone or in combination with other technology, enables the motor vehicle on which the technology is installed to drive without the active control or monitoring by a human operator.

“Autonomous vehicle,” any motor vehicle equipped with autonomous technology.

SECTION 2. Said section 1 of said chapter 90, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the definition of “Way” the following definition:-

“Zero emission vehicle”, a battery electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle or a fuel cell vehicle.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 90 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 19L the following section:-

Section 19M.  An autonomous vehicle operated on the ways of the commonwealth shall be a zero emission vehicle.