A Defining Year for Autonomy Policy: Where AUVSI’s Advocacy Stands in 2026

August 5, 2026

Autonomy policy does not move in one place. This year it has moved in Senate committee markups, in House floor amendments, in FAA rulemaking dockets, and in a Congressional hearing room where AUVSI’s president testified directly against a fast-closing window. Across air, ground, maritime, and defense, 2026 has been a year of real legislative movement for our priorities, and much of it is still not finished. Here is where things stand, domain by domain, and where the next several months will decide what comes next. 

Air: Certainty for the Technologies Already Here 

The Air Advocacy Committee (AAC) has spent 2026 pushing for regulatory clarity which lets advanced air mobility and UAS operators plan. AUVSI continued engaging with the FAA, DOT, and TSA on the FAA’s BVLOS rulemaking, one of the most consequential rules the industry has waited years for. AUVSI also worked extensively with the White House and FCC to implement the new Covered List action in a way that ensures trusted allied systems, like those on the Blue UAS List, can continue to be sold in the United States.  

On July 22, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee advanced the Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act, legislation AUVSI has publicly endorsed. The bill would establish standard timelines for FAA type certification, a predictability problem that has slowed AAM and eVTOL manufacturers for years. Committee advancement is real progress, but it is not law yet. The bill still needs a full vote in both the Senate and the House. 

Ground: Testifying Against a Closing Window 

The Ground Advocacy Committee’s (GAC) work centers on a threat AUVSI has watched play out once already. On July 22, AUVSI President and CEO Michael Robbins testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in direct support of the GUARD Act, the Guarding the U.S. Against Adversarial Robotics Dominance Act. 

Robbins told lawmakers that a single subsidized Chinese drone maker came to account for 96% of uncrewed aircraft detected in U.S. airspace before meaningful restrictions arrived and warned that China is now running the same playbook in robotics: Chinese manufacturers shipped roughly 90% of the world’s humanoid robots in 2025, backed by more than $20 billion in Chinese robotics subsidies and a roughly $137 billion national AI and robotics fund. The counterargument for acting now rather than later is a narrow one: China currently supplies only about 4% of U.S. industrial robotics imports. That window, Robbins testified, is the reason to act at low cost before it closes. This was the third time this year AUVSI had testified before Congress on robotic policy issues. 

AUVSI endorsed language was included in the House-passed NDAA from the Cassidy-Coons Humanoid ROBOT Act and the Cotton-Schumer American Security Robotics Act that would permanently ban procurement of humanoid and quadruped robots from adversarial nations, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, from intelligence-related federal agencies to protect our national security. This is an important market signal to demonstrate to industry of the threats that these systems from adversarial nations could pose. 

This built on GAC’s broader 2026 work, including the launch of the Partnership for Robotics Competitiveness alongside the National Commission on Robotics Act, and advocacy that helped include the Securing Infrastructure from Adversaries Act in the BUILD America 250 Act. 

The Moreno-Slotkin Connected Vehicle Security Act was advanced by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. This legislation would address national security risks from connected vehicles designed, developed, or manufactured by entities linked to foreign adversaries. AUVSI endorsed and advocated for this legislation.  

Furthermore, language supported by AUVSI was included in both the House-passed NDAA and also advanced in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) to ban adversarial-linked connected vehicles from operating on military bases and property to prevent data collection on base layouts and military personnel movements, among other national security concerns.  

Maritime: Building Momentum for a Hybrid Fleet 

The Maritime Advocacy Committee (MAC) has pushed to bring the same urgency to naval and commercial maritime autonomy that air and ground have seen. The MAC helped shape and endorse autonomous priorities in the SHIPS Act and advocated for autonomous provisions in the White House’s Maritime Action Plan. It also fast tracked the Trusted UMS Operator program this year, aligning industry and government standards for maritime autonomy workforce development, with 128 Trusted UMS certificates issued in 2026 so far. Maintaining momentum into 2027, strategic outreach is underway to engage key industry and federal government leaders for MAC committee meetings and priorities. 

Defense: Building the Institutional Infrastructure for Autonomy 

The Defense Advocacy Committee’s (DAC) work has focused less on any single bill and more on the institutional plumbing that determines whether autonomy programs scale. The DAC championed NDAA priorities to strengthen trusted supply chains, worked to ensure Army coordination with industry on organic industrial base modernization, and helped shape the Drone Dominance gauntlet competitions that will help get drones in the hands of warfighters more quickly. 

That institutional focus shows up in the House-passed FY2027 NDAA as well. The House version includes the creation of an Autonomy Integration Account to speed resourcing of autonomous mission capabilities and directs the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) to develop formal doctrine, tactics, and force structure requirements for unmanned systems, the same DAWG initiative the DAC has already flagged as an attempt to fix a historically slow-moving DOW acquisition pipeline. The Senate has not yet brought its own NDAA to a floor vote, so this language is not final. A conference committee will need to reconcile House and Senate versions before anything reaches the President’s desk. 

What Ties These Together 

Look across all four domains and a pattern holds: nothing described here is finished. The Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act needs a Senate floor vote. The GUARD Act needs to move out of the subcommittee. The NDAA needs a Senate vote and a conference committee before final passage. Even where AUVSI has already secured wins, the fights that determine whether autonomy scales across every domain, in the air, on the ground, at sea, and across the defense industrial base, are still being decided in the second half of 2026. 

This is the case for being in the room now rather than after the fact. AUVSI’s advocacy committees represent member companies spanning manufacturers, operators, integrators, and public safety stakeholders across the full uncrewed ecosystem, work that shapes the specific language lawmakers vote on, not just commentary after the vote happens. 

Learn more about our advocacy committees and join AUVSI today.